Slovene national insurance card system: connecting patient and health care

The paper outlines a case of an implemented modern IT solution in the health care, that is, the Slovene health insurance card system. The system is in full operation nation-wide and covers all the aspects of health care and health insurance operations. The system allows reliable identification of patients and service providers and, with its design open to enhancements, is a major breakthrough in the process of transition to e-health. The paper addresses both the national and international perspective of such IT solutions, with the main issues and goals being the quality of services to the citizen, the health care system economics and management, and the free movement of people and services in the internal market. Special consideration is devoted to the compatibility and interoperability of national systems with the emerging European health insurance card. Furthermore, the paper outlines the main financial dimensions of the development to date and the changes achieved through the intensive development in terms of quality and accessibility of health care services.