The electronic patient record (EPR) is a digital collection of your health data. It's not a complete medical file.
The EPR allows you to centralise your health information and make it available to your doctor or other health professionals quickly and easily. This improves the coordination of your healthcare and the quality of your treatment.
The EPR contains different types of documents relating to your health. Health professionals can post information in your EPR, and so can you.
Documents submitted by healthcare professionals may include:
Current list of medicines you are taking
Hospital discharge report after an operation
X-ray report
Report of the ultrasound scan carried out by your gynaecologist
Vaccination record
Information on known allergies
Prescriptions
Documents you can submit may include:
Blood group card
Organ donation card
Patient decree
Pain diary
X-ray or laboratory reports carried out prior to the creation of your EPR
The EPR only contains copies of documents. Healthcare institutions keep the originals.
If you live in Switzerland and are over 16 (or 18, depending on the provider), you can open an EPR. You can delete it whenever you like, no justification needed.
As a parent, you can open an EPR for your child from birth. At the age of 16 (or 18, depending on the provider), children receive their own access.
You can appoint a representative to manage your EPR on your behalf. This could be a member of your family, someone close to you or a healthcare professional.
Swiss nationals living abroad and frontier workers can also open an EPR.
You must choose a certified EPR provider. Whichever provider you choose, your EPR will be valid throughout Switzerland.
Most providers allow you to open an EPR online or on-site, in a pharmacy or hospital.
Für die Eröffnung eines EPD brauchen Sie allen voran:
An OASI number
An email address
An identity document
During the opening procedure, you will need to create a recognised electronic identity for the EPR.
The official EPR information platform provides more details on opening an EPR.
You decide which healthcare professionals can consult which documents in your EPR and for how long. For example, you can share data with your family doctor, a specialist or your physiotherapist.
You can also give access to a group of carers, for example a department in a hospital, a doctor's office, a nursing home, a pharmacy or a homecare service.
People and organisations not involved in your treatment cannot access your EPR. Nor can your employer, your insurer or the authorities see the documents stored there.
For each document in your EPR, you can set a confidentiality level and decide who can consult it. In the event of a medical emergency, nursing staff can access your EPR unless you have blocked emergency access.
If healthcare professionals have accessed your EPR documents during an emergency, you will be automatically informed afterwards, by email or text message.
Some healthcare professionals do not yet use the EPR and therefore do not have access to their patients' EPRs. However, you can request your health documents so that you can enter them in your EPR yourself.
Health data is sensitive. The EPR is subject to the strictest security standards and the use of the data is clearly defined by law.
To access your EPR, authorised healthcare professionals must identify themselves. All activity is recorded. You can see who has viewed or saved documents in the access log.
The EPR platform provides detailed information on all aspects of electronic records.
The platform offers a list of certified providers.