From 1 January 2025, all healthcare providers have the possibility to employ an administrative staff member who will be entitled to handle medical documentation to a specified extent. This novelty brings about a major change, as until now administrative staff have not been authorised to work with medical documentation.
Conditions of authorisation
The healthcare provider may entrust the administrative worker with the processing, provision and making available of medical documentation data, provided that the administrative staff:
- is in employment or other similar relationship with the provider,
- is registered in the National Register of Health Workers with access to the e-health book,
- is issued with an electronic health card.
Procedure for obtaining authorisation
The administrative staff shall apply for an electronic licence to the National Health Information Centre (NCZI). After the licence is issued, it shall obtain access to the data from the patient's e-health book to the following extent:
- a record of the application form for examination in the joint investigation and treatment components, including a description of the sample,
- a record of the doctor's recommendation for specialist outpatient care,
- a record of the doctor's recommendation for admission to institutional health care,
- a record of the outpatient care provided, including telemedicine.
Confidentiality obligations
The administrative staff shall be required to keep confidential any information they obtain when working with medical documentation.
Notification obligation of the healthcare provider
In the event of termination of the working relationship, the healthcare provider shall notify the NCZI no later than the day following the end of the employment relationship of the administrative worker.
The importance and benefits of this change
This measure reflects the need to relieve health professionals from administrative activities. Allowing administrative staff to handle medical documentation shall ensure that:
- a more flexible division of tasks between health and administrative staff;
- reducing the administrative burden on health professionals, doctors and nurses will be relieved of the tasks that do not require professional medical training;
- Improving work efficiency - healthcare professionals will be able to concentrate more on time devoted directly to the patient, on the provision of healthcare itself, while administrative tasks will be redirected to administrative staff.