Legislative innovations in health law: Changes for non-medical professions and the development of computerization of health care
Author of the article: Mgr. Barbora Dlabolová, ARROWS (office@arws.cz, +420 245 007 740)
According to the proposed changes to the law, students of health care professions would now be able to work as practical nurses during their studies, which would solve a critical shortage of health care personnel. The digitisation of healthcare is still a daily topic. The amendment to the Healthcare Electronicisation Act introduces new tools to speed up the sharing of medical records and strengthen patients' rights to protect their data.
.jpg)
Non-medical health professions
On 19 August 2024, Bill No. 96/2004 Coll., on non-medical health professions, was submitted to the Chamber of Deputies regarding changes to the rules for the exercise of non-medical health professions. Specifically, it will concern students of disciplines preparing for the professions of paediatric nurses, paramedics and certified health workers, which is regulated by the provisions of Section 21b.
The aim of the proposal is to enable these students to become qualified to practise as a practical nurse during their studies. According to the proposed amendment, students would now be able to practise as a practical nurse after completing four semesters of general or paediatric nursing or five semesters of paramedic studies.
The proposal responds to the current shortage of health care professionals by allowing pediatric nurses and paramedics to work as practical nurses without professional supervision earlier than before.
Although the government has taken a neutral position on the proposal, it has pointed out that it considers the MP's proposal to be redundant, as the legislation in question will have to be amended to take account of Directive (EU) 2024/505 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 February 2024 on the recognition of professional qualifications, the transposition deadline for which expires on 4 March 2025. This Directive focuses mainly on the recognition of professional qualifications of nurses responsible for general care who have received training in Romania.
At the same time, the government pointed out that under the proposed regulation, only the provision of basic nursing care would be considered as practising as a nurse practitioner, which would narrow the scope of healthcare that a nurse practitioner could provide. However, this is not the intention of the appellants, nor is it desirable. Moreover, the term 'basic nursing care' is not recognised in the legislation and therefore needs to be defined and amended accordingly.
Electronification of healthcare
On 2 October 2024, the Government approved a draft amendment to Act No. 325/2021 Coll. on the electronicisation of healthcare, which expands existing central services and introduces new electronic tools for more efficient communication between patients, healthcare institutions and insurance companies.
The amendment will allow patients to be more involved in eHealth by extending their rights, either in person or through their designated representatives. Key innovations are central services (such as eRequest and EZCard) that will streamline the electronic transfer of medical records and increase legal certainty for healthcare professionals and patients. It also expands the definition of electronicisation standards and adds new possibilities for information exchange.
The amendment also focuses on modifying the Tribal Register of Patients, especially those without identification documents, specifically expanding the scope of patient data maintained in a minimalist manner (i.e., e.g., to include information regarding nationality).
A further amendment is also being prepared to reflect the European Data Space Regulation (EDS Regulation) and the new National eHealth Strategy, with the aim of enabling the sharing of medical records in electronic form. These steps are intended to bring better protection of patients' personal data and support the development of the electronicisation of healthcare at European level.
Specifically, for example, the EHDS will allow patients to access their health data in electronic form and will also allow patients to make their data available to healthcare professionals of their choice, including abroad and in the language of the specific healthcare professional. This will simplify the provision of health services across the EU.
MyHealth@EU will be used to share electronic health data across borders. This has been in place for a number of years and allows the exchange of patient summaries as well as ePrescriptions between selected countries through the National Contact Points for eHealth that Member States have set up.