Your health records · Health and science

Medical file

Every healthcare provider keeps a file of their patients. For example, if you go to your GP, they will complete your file. The same goes for the dentist, the specialist, the physiotherapist, the pharmacist, the nurse, etc. They each keep a separate file with:

• information about your health;
• a few personal information.

If the healthcare provider saves your file on the computer, this is referred to as an electronic patient file.

Your file may contain the following information:

• your current health problems
• your current treatment(s)
• your past health problems (medical history)
• your allergies
• your vaccinations
• hospital records
• results of your medical examinations

Global Medical Record (GMD)

• The global medical file (GMD) bundles all medical records of the various healthcare providers that you have consulted.

• Is general practitioner manages this GMD. This gives them a global overview of all information about your health.

• You are not required to apply for a GMD. Do you want your doctor to collect all information about your health?
  • Then you can ask them to open and manage a GMD.
  • This is done during a separate consultation.

• Is health insurance pays the costs to open and manage your GMD in full.
  • If you wish, you can ask your doctor to apply the third-party payer system.
  • In that system you only pay your part of the consultation. So you don’t have to pay the full amount and then ask your health insurance fund for a refund.

What is the use of a GMD?

You are not required to have a GMD. But it does have advantages:

• Your GP can results of your investigations with other health care providers and their defeated to look at.
  • That’s important, especially if you have a chronic illness that your doctor needs to monitor.

• You enjoy one for 2 years better reimbursement when:
  • you visit your GP;
  • your GP visits you at home;
  • you are 75 years or older;
  • you have a chronic illness.

Does your GP see you at least once every 2 years, for a consultation or during a home visit? Then your GMD is automatically renewed every year.

Sumehr (concise medical file)

Does your GP manage your global medical file (GMD)? Then that one can summarize your medical file. We call that summary the sumehr (SUMmarized Electronic Health Record):

• The sumehr contains summary information about your healthas you:
  • health issues;
  • treatments);
  • allergies;
  • hypersensitivity to certain drugs;
  • vaccinations;
  • wishes regarding blood transfusions, resuscitation, intubation, euthanasia, organ donation, etc.

• You can discuss with your doctor whether you want to have a sumehr made.
  • You can also ask not to include certain aspects about your health.
  • Your doctor will supplement your sumehr over time.

• Do you want to know what’s in it?
  • Ask your doctor.
  • View your file online via mijngezondheid.be (my health summary).

Your doctor can sumehr you share with other healthcare providers:

• Through your file, your doctor, physiotherapist or nurse has the necessary information to determine the treatment well of the voice on your situation.
• Other healthcare providers, such as your pharmacist or dentist, may also have access to certain parts of your sumehr.
• Are you in the waiting room of your doctor or in the emergency department of a hospital? Then the doctors through your sumehr je medical history to look at.

Shared health record

• The shared health record is one series of documents that your healthcare providers (doctor, nurse, physiotherapist, etc.) can provide exchange or share to better monitor your health.
  • De sumehr (see above) is part of this.

• The exchange of that information in your files takes place via regional secure computer networks.
  • Depending on the region where you live, you can consult your personal space there.
  • There are several regional networks, including:
  • They communicate with each other via the federal eHealth platform. You can find them via 1 portal: mijngezondheid.be (see ‘links to other patient portals’).

• Your shared health record is also available through other channels as:

• The shared health file does not automatically collect all medical data from all doctors you consult (in a hospital).
  • Do you want to know whether the doctors you consult publish your documents about your health or not? Ask them.

Who has access to my shared file?

A healthcare provider is required 3 conditions to access the shared health record:

• The healthcare provider must consult with you care relationship (therapeutic relationship). This means that you have (been) there for a consultation and that you have received care. It could be about you:
  • general practitioner or specialist;
  • pharmacist;
  • physiotherapist;
  • dentist;
  • nurse;
  • midwife.
    • The company doctor, the doctor of your health insurance fund or insurance company cannot access your data.

• The health care provider must authorized to access your shared health record:
  • Your file will then be supplemented as you consult different healthcare providers.
  • Each category of healthcare provider has access to certain information in your file. For example, a pharmacist cannot see your lab results, but a diabetes educator can.
  • The system therefore determines who has access to which parts of your shared health record. Your global medical file, on the other hand, is only accessible to your general practitioner.

• You have to do this permission to give:
  • Sharing the information is also done with your permission. That consent is often tacit.
  • The information sharing facilitates collaboration between the healthcare providers who treat you. For example, they can quickly find your medical history and results of tests.
  • You can manage the access of healthcare providers to your file or documents via mijngezondheid.be (overview of permission).

Shared pharmaceutical file

When you pharmacist dispenses a medicine on prescription from your doctor, he will register this prescription in an electronic file in your name:

• Your pharmacist can access certain data via this pharmaceutical file share with other pharmacies.

• This exchange of information only takes place between pharmacies where you have purchased medicines.
  • Do you usually go to one pharmacy? However, it may happen that you go to get medicines from another pharmacy, for example a pharmacy on duty.
  • Thanks to the shared pharmaceutical file, this pharmacist has access to your medication prescriptions.

• The pharmacist can only view the list of medicines that you have received since the creation of your shared pharmaceutical file and during the last 12 months.
  • That’s how they know about it which medicines it turns on what dose and when they were delivered.
  • The pharmacist can give you appropriate advice.

• No other information is shared. For example, the pharmacist cannot check:
  • which doctor has prescribed a medicine;
  • which pharmacy it was delivered to.

The shared pharmaceutical file is not required:

• Your pharmacist will only activate that file if you give permission for this. You sign a document for this.
• You can withdraw that permission at any time.

Registering and sharing information between pharmacies ensures that you appropriate advice will receive, among other things:

• the risk of drug interactions;
• dual use of medicines;
• overdose.

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