A conference to promote the European health professional card - November 28, 2008

The first conference on the European professional health card was held on Friday November 28 in the Salons Hoche in Paris. Organised under the auspices of the French Presidency of the European Union, the event was supported by the European Commission and under the high patronage of Ms Roselyne Bachelot-Narquin, French Minister for Health, Young People, Sports, and Associations.

A European conference

The conference was attended by more than 200 people from 24 different countries, mostly members of the European Union. The European Conference of Medical (CEOM) which met in Paris on the morning was also present at this event.
The conference was organised on the basis of two round-table discussions, the first on the issue of patient security, and the second on the mobility of health professionals; it included speakers from seven European Union countries and various professional standpoints (politicians, patients associations and health professionals). Their lectures made it possible to draw up a rich panorama of the issues involved and the expectations raised by the project for a card for European health professionals.

	The conference reported on the state of progress of the European health professional card. Stefano Zappala, the MEP reporter for the Directive 2005/36/EC, opened the debate by presenting the project as the technical embodiment of the political desire expressed in the Directive.
	Dr Agnès Bradier, the financial officer for the “HPRO Card – European Health Professional Card “ project at the European Commission’s DG for Employment, set the decision on funding the project in the context of the DG Employment’s action plan adopted with a view of improving the mobility of professionals and supporting innovative action in the sector until 2010.

A European project supported by health professionals

 

Patrick Fortuit, the project’s coordinator, described the background of HPRO Card. Selected by a call for proposal of the European Commission in July 2007, HPRO Card has received funding of almost 300 000 Euros since March 2008, for a period of eighteen months. Its steering committee includes seven organisations (the French national Order of Pharmacists, the French national Order of Doctors, and the French Ministry of Health, the Belgian national Order of Pharmacists, the PGEU, the GIP-CPS, and KADRIS Consultants). >> presentation of Patrick Fortuit

An increasing number of competent authorities are joining the members supporting the project and taking part in gathering information. Pamela Brumter, Head of Unit in the European Commission’s DG Market, in charge of implementing Directive 2005/36/EC, stressed the importance for health professionals of dealing with these issues.

The HPRO Card consists in studying the conditions for implementing the European health professional card. Several lines are being developed:
- identification of the competent authorities for the five professions;
- definition of the conditions for interoperability of the health professionals’ authentication systems;
- drawing up an overview of the cards used by health professionals in the Member States of the European Union.

The European health professional card will make it possible to question the competent authority in the country of origin in order to check the bearer’s identity, qualifications and entitlement to practice. The inclusion of a chip will make it possible to update the necessary information in real time. The system will facilitate exchanges on qualifications, authorisations and any bans or restrictions on practice. It will therefore provide patients with greater protection.

The conference also allowed speakers to present their own health professional cards. Joan Camps Pons, Director of the technical department of the Spanish national Order of Doctors, and Philipp Stachwitz, of the German national Order of Doctors, described the state of progress and the operation of the health professional card in their respective countries. Stefan Krchnak, of the Slovakian national Order of Pharmacists, presented the issues his Order is facing in setting up the European health professional card.

>> presentation of Joan Camps Pons

>> presentation of Philipp Stachwitz 

>> presentation of Stefan Krchnak  

A project which will promote patient security and mobility of professionals

There are no health professional cards in the United Kingdom. Alan Kershaw, member of the UK’s Nursing and Midwifery Council presented the procedures for registering in these professions. To provide the patient with information that is as transparent as possible on health professionals, the register of practising nurses and midwives is provided on an Internet site and may be accessed by anyone. The site also includes a list of those professionals who are subject of a sanction. This is a modality in contradiction with the laws prevailing in other European countries. Alan Kershaw expressed his definite enthusiasm for the HPRO Card project.

Jean Parrot, Chairman of the French national Order of Pharmacists, described how the pharmaceutical file increased patient security. He also stressed the importance of strong authentication of health professionals using the application (using the CPS card). The file met a number of requirements for security concerning the prescription of medicines, the traceability of prescriptions, and a more efficient transmission of health alerts. The proportion of pharmacies using the pharmaceutical file is increasing rapidly because it will soon be compulsory. Mr Parrot concluded by saying that the intention was indeed that the application should expand and become inter-professional.

The European health professional card is a tool for promoting the mobility of professionals. Pamela Brumter remarked that although such mobility was already possible, the complexity of administrative procedures was currently slowing things down. The card could simplify these procedures.

A project with a future

As Dr Agnès Bradier commented in her introduction, the side-effects of the project are much more wide-ranging than its initial objective and contribute to the construction of the European identity.

Pamela Brumter stressed the importance to demonstrate the real contribution the health professional card in the administrative procedures simplification and the benefits for patient security in a perspective of evolution of the European legal framework.

	Nicholas Leapman, in charge of the IMI project at the European Commission, DG Market, presented the European IMI project (Internal Market Information system). This project allows dialogue between competent authorities on the basis of pre-formatted questions, while the HPRO Card project will allow contact between their databases. The two projects are complementary, as the competent authorities will need both systems.
	Dr Jacques Lucas, Vice-President of the French national Order of Doctors, recalled how important the use of health professional cards was for authenticating professionals having access to personal medical data. Questions of registration of professionals, brought by the competent authorities, must be reconciled with the concerns of confidentiality. That is what France is preparing to carry out by combining Order cards with health professional cards (CPS) in a single tool.
	On behalf of the Minister for Health, André Loth, head of the mission for computerising the French health system (MISS), is pleased that several countries converge on the same solutions and that the use of international standards should allow greater interoperability of systems. He also stressed the ambition of the project, covering not only the mobility of professionals but also mobility of patients and data. He reiterated the French Government’s support for the project.