Inter­pel­la­ti­on Rohr (20.3662): Elec­tro­nic data exch­an­ge bet­ween hos­pi­tals, can­to­nal aut­ho­ri­ties and the fede­ral govern­ment. Les­sons lear­ned from the Coro­na crisis

Sub­mit­ted text

The coro­na cri­sis has had Switz­er­land in its grip for over two months. Thanks to the swift action of the Fede­ral Coun­cil and the gre­at soli­da­ri­ty of the popu­la­ti­on, the num­ber of new infec­tions has fal­len shar­ply. The force of the infec­tion wave took us all by sur­pri­se. All the more rea­son for the play­ers invol­ved in the heal­th­ca­re system to face major chal­lenges. This applies in par­ti­cu­lar to the exch­an­ge of data bet­ween hos­pi­tals, the can­tons as ser­vice pro­vi­ders and the fede­ral govern­ment. For exam­p­le, hos­pi­tals have to report dai­ly to the can­to­nal health aut­ho­ri­ties on the num­ber of emp­ty inten­si­ve care beds, the num­ber of new cases, and so on. It is known from one can­ton that this was done via Whats­App. This is que­stionable, not least for rea­sons of data pro­tec­tion. Impro­ve­ments are nee­ded in con­nec­tion with resour­ce manage­ment. At the height of the coro­na cri­sis, many nur­sing staff were on short-time working, while at the same time cer­tain depart­ments were at their limit due to the incre­a­sing num­ber of coro­na cases.

In addi­ti­on, the­re is cha­os with regard to con­firm­ed coro­na infec­tions. The data from John Hop­kins Uni­ver­si­ty, the Fede­ral Office of Public Health and the sta­tis­ti­cal office of the Can­ton of Zurich dif­fer great­ly. One rea­son is the dif­fe­rent report­ing of data. In some cases, fax or mail is still used. It is the­r­e­fo­re evi­dent that digi­ta­lizati­on must be dri­ven for­ward, espe­ci­al­ly in the exch­an­ge of data.

I would ask the Fede­ral Coun­cil to ans­wer the fol­lo­wing questions:

1. is the Fede­ral Coun­cil awa­re that the Data exch­an­ge or the data chan­nels in the con­text of the Coro­na cri­sis, not least becau­se of data pro­tec­tion to rethink and pro­fes­sio­na­li­ze is?

2 What poten­ti­al does the Fede­ral Coun­cil see in the area of digi­tizati­on spe­ci­fi­cal­ly rela­ted to data report­ing or exchange?

3. what role could the elec­tro­nic pati­ent dos­sier play?

4. Is the Fede­ral Coun­cil of the opi­ni­on that amend­ments to laws or ordi­nan­ces may be necessary?