Denmark

Over half of the world’s hearing aids are made by 3 Danish companies (UBS 2019). In 1950 Denmark became the first country in the world to provide hearing aids for free to its citizens (Hindhede 2013). The country combines a comprehensive and generous government welfare system with an innovative and entrepreneurial private sector.

Country’s healthcare system in a nutshell

Denmark’s healthcare system is built on four pillars (Sternberg, 2022):

  1. Universal coverage

  2. Financed by general taxes

  3. Free and equal access

  4. High degree of decentralisation

The system has fully embraced digitalisation. Each region is responsible for storing electronic health record (EHR) data in the region’s data repository. EHR coverage is comprehensive, with healthcare providers legally required to report to these regional repositories. The two EHR systems in use (EPIC and Systematic) operate independently without direct data exchange. The national E-Journal shows healthcare professionals information from the EHRs of other regions (Fragidis & Chatzoglou, 2018; Jensen & Thorseng, 2017; Tikkanen et al., 2020).

Health insurance covers the entire population of ’s health data through Sundhed.dk. It also provides clinical information and guidelines that may not be available in their local EHR. For example, GPs can access hospital EHRs, waiting lists, and contact details for other healthcare professionals (Petersen, 2019).

Challenges and areas for improvement

Despite its many strengths, there are still areas where the system could improve to further enhance patient engagement and functionality.

  • The inability for patients to connect personal health devices, such as home monitoring devices, to their records.

  • Patients cannot currently add their own health data to their medical records.

Statistics

Usage

 

Annual visits to sundhed.png

Most used services

  1. Laboratory results (Corona test results included)

  2. Patient journal

  3. Medicine card

  4. Patient & Doctors handbook

  5. Image descriptions

  6. Appointments

  7. Find a practitioner

(The Norwegian Directorate of eHealth, 2022)

Nordics NPS and knowledge

Denmark:

  • Net Promoter Score*: 21 (2021)

  • 96% has heard of sundhed.dk (2021)

In comparison to other Northern European countries for context:

Finland:

  • Net Promoter Score*: 52 (2020)

  • Second most respected web site (2020)

Norway:

  • Net Promoter Score*: 48 (2021)

  • 97% has heard of Helsenorge (2021)

Sweden:

  • Net Promoter Score*: 45 (2021)

  • 99% has heard of 1177 (2020)

*Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a tool to measure customer likelihood to recommend a company, a product or a service to a friend or colleague.

  • -100-0: Bad

  • 0-30: Good

  • 30-70: Very good

  • 70-100: Excellent

(The Norwegian Directorate of eHealth, 2022)

Screenshots

Homepage of Sundhed.dk

Bibliography

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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