Regional health care networks

Communication cross primary and secondary care, between organisations or between different types of professionals causes special problems. The communication often implies exchange of data between different computer systems. The INCO-COPERNICUS project PRIMACOM (PRIMAry Care Physician's COMmunication Network) demonstrates how such communication can be established in regions in Hungary and Slovenia. PRIMACOM is building on European messaging standards for EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) with practical experience from the Danish MedCom project. The paper points out the need for standardising health care messages and via the Danish MedCom project documents the return of investment.