The Universal Health Care (UHC) Act in February 2019 introduced reforms improving service delivery, ensuring people’s access to quality health services while protecting them from financial and economic difficulty. In some countries promoting UHC, the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in health or eHealth helped cut costs and improved the quality and safety in the provision of health services. eHealth can benefit and enhance the Philippines’ health system by delivering services to the people in novel ways.
A Philippines eHealth Strategic Framework and Plan has been crafted to facilitate the achievement of widespread access to health care services and information. Progress has been made in mainstreaming eHealth. However, several issues remain such as problems on infrastructure, interoperability of systems, and data privacy to gain the trust of both health providers and user/patients.
Other countries passed laws to achieve high level of governance and protection of all stakeholders in eHealth. A bill at the House of Representatives proposes to institutionalize eHealth with provisions that establish the necessary structures to address the remaining issues on its application and the security of all information. If enacted into law, this measure can facilitate the implementation of the UHC through innovative health service delivery that could overcome geographical and time barriers while guaranteeing patients’ safety..
