Sundhed.dk and MyHealth During the Corona Storm

Abstract

Background The Danish eHealth portal, sundhed.dk, pioneers open access to medical records since 2003 and is, in this regard, unique worldwide. As part of the Danish health care sector, sundhed.dk supports transparency and patient empowerment and provides health professionals with the possibility to access patient health data outside of local systems and across sectors and boundaries. Sundhed.dk and the MyHealth app have played a crucial role during the COVID-19 pandemic in Denmark, not least due to the development of the corona passport. Objective The overall purpose during the COVID-19 pandemic has been to assist the health authorities handling the pandemic and to support patient empowerment. Sundhed.dk provided new digital services to support monitoring the spread of the virus and telemedicine solutions to support the Danish citizens both during isolation and as the society was gradually reopening. Methods By exploiting sundhed.dk’s known and widespread position in the society and the already existing digital building blocks, sundhed.dk and MyHealth managed to provide fast and easy access to COVID-19 laboratory responses and, on top of that, to develop the corona passport, which was the result of accelerated IT development and fast scaling of the required server with the users. Results The many digital services accessible through sundhed.dk or MyHealth made it possible for Danish citizens to continue to see their doctor or physiotherapist during lockdown. Moreover, the corona passport made the safe and efficient reopening of Denmark possible. Conclusions The story of sundhed.dk during the COVID-19 pandemic is a story of success, a result of its close interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral cooperation with Danish health authorities and private IT vendors. It illustrates what can be achieved when there is a unified blueprint and overall purpose to overcome barriers in order to ensure development and progress for both the individual and the society. This has also drawn global attention, as reflected in a report by the World Health Organization.