“OECD countries continue to implement and expand the use of electronic medical records (EMRs) in hospitals or physicians’ offices for their patients. In 2021, on average over 93% of primary care practices used EMRs, an increase from 70% in 2012, across OECD countries with comparable data. In 13 OECD countries, all primary care practices used EMRs, whereas in some countries such as Poland, Mexico, Switzerland and Japan, around 40% or fewer had EMR availability (Figure 5.14). Nevertheless, all these countries have had large increases in EMR availability since 2012, with especially significant rises in Denmark, the United States and Canada. These increases in EMR adoption are also seen in the hospital sector for inpatient use, with an increase of nearly 45% from 2012 to 2021, signalling widespread adoption of EMR systems for primary and secondary care in OECD countries.

“Alongside the infrastructure and use of digital systems like EMRs, an effective digital transformation also requires good governance to share and utilise health information for both providers and patients in a secure and timely manner. The majority of OECD countries have some capacity to generate and share health information from EMRs. In 16 of 26 OECD countries in 2021, most patients could access an internet portal where they can view the information contained in their EMR. Further, 13 of 26 OECD countries could connect patients with their healthcare providers via a patient portal (Oderkirk, 2021[2]).

“Improvements in infrastructure and health literacy provide more capacity for patients to use online services to seek health information and advice. On average across 32 OECD countries, 60% of individuals aged 16-74 used the internet to seek health information in the three months preceding the survey in 2022 – up from 40% in 2012 (Figure 5.15). When health data and information are understandable and valid for a range of uses and users, new digital health services and applications, such as telemedicine, can enable better access to healthcare and higher patient satisfaction, especially among patients that face the most barriers to traditional face-to-face care services (such as those living in rural areas).”

Source: OECD (2023), Health at a Glance 2023: OECD Indicators, OECD Publishing, Paris, doi.org/10.1787/7a7afb35-en.

“During the COVID-19 pandemic, the use of telemedicine was crucial to delivering care through uncertainty (OECD, 2023[3]). In 2019, before the pandemic, remote consultations via phone or video accounted for fewer than 10% of all consultations in Australia, Finland, Lithuania, Norway and Slovenia, with an average of 0.6 teleconsultations per patient per year among OECD countries. However, by 2021 this rate had more than doubled to 1.4 teleconsultations per patient per year, with significant increases in Australia, Lithuania and Slovenia, many of which previously had the lowest rates but by 2021 had near or above the OECD average (Figure 5.16). After realising the benefits through the pandemic, health systems have expanded the use of remote consultations, although financial, legal and operational barriers still exist.”

Source: OECD (2023), Health at a Glance 2023: OECD Indicators, OECD Publishing, Paris, doi.org/10.1787/7a7afb35-en.

“While DHT [Digital Health Technologies] are expected to provide better access to healthcare, their potential to generate and exacerbate inequalities is clear. DHT inequities are related to a set of determinants [86] that are unevenly addressed in the literature. Further research is needed to explore the impact of political, economic, and cultural context on digital health inequalities. A better understanding of mechanisms that promote digital inclusion will help tailor more efficient strategies for digital healthcare equity. Tackling digital health inequalities requires acknowledging risks and mapping disparities, through the assessment of identified outcome indicators and monitoring of goal achievement [50,51,55]. Efficient strategies are needed to contain and reduce inequalities. An intersectionality approach involving conventional and non-conventional policy actors is a promising avenue to develop and sustain adapted measures that meet subgroups’ specific needs related to DHT. Digital technologies offer a great opportunity to enhance the impact of healthcare systems on health distribution, especially among the marginalized groups who are more often digitally excluded. However, this potential can only be realized by embracing a clear vision of digital health transformation that adopts a public health perspective with an equity-focused lens [104] that effectively integrates digital equity into political agendas, (Fig. 2,Fig. 3).”

Source: Badr J, Motulsky A, Denis JL. Digital health technologies and inequalities: A scoping review of potential impacts and policy recommendations. Health Policy. 2024;146:105122. doi:10.1016/j.healthpol.2024.105122

“Information and communication technologies (ICTs) embody all digital technologies that support the electronic capture, storage, processing, and exchange of information in order to promote health, prevent illness, treat disease, manage chronic illness, and so on [1, 2]. In the health sector, ICTs refer to a set of projects or services that allow for remote care (telehealth), interdisciplinary clinical support, as well as knowledge transfer [3]. The use of ICTs has the potential to promote patient-centered healthcare at a lower cost, improve quality of care and information sharing, educate health professionals and patients, encourage a new form of relationship between patients and their health providers, reduce travel time, etc. [1, 4, 5]. Despite these well-known advantages, the implementation of ICTs in practice remains difficult and involves changes at different levels, including with respect to patients, healthcare providers, and healthcare organizations [6].”

Source: Rouleau G, Gagnon MP, Côté J. Impacts of information and communication technologies on nursing care: an overview of systematic reviews (protocol). Syst Rev. 2015;4:75. Published 2015 May 23. doi:10.1186/s13643-015-0062-y

“Data protection and privacy laws related to health information can be applied at the national (federal) level, as in Austria, Finland, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea, Slovenia, or the UK. Other federalized countries such as Australia, Canada and the US have a complicated ecosystem of national and regional/state laws. How these interact (and supplement or complement each other) varies, depending on the nature of the separation of responsibilities across these administrative levels. In Australia there is a range of entities responsible for datasets at each level of government, with no overarching health data governance framework. However, the 2020–2025 National Health Reform Agreement includes a vision to introduce a national approach to data governance, structures, and processes.”

“Electronic health records, or applications that allow patients and providers to access all health-related information in a coherent way, are a key element in the implementation of eHealth in many countries. Denmark is the best example among the countries in this review. Through the underlying health data network, which contains health and healthcare information from all service providers (see Figure 2.1), patients can access their data on Sundhed. dk. Sweden has a system that is similar in principle, but technically different with a comparatively more limited implementation (Davoody et al., 2019). The primary purposes of such systems are to improve the coordination of care and to increase transparency for patients, not least to promote their empowerment. Regular access to the data is available to the patients themselves and to the service providers. Slovenia already has envisioned the use of data for research purposes in its zVEM Portal, which operates as an expanded electronic health record, providing secure access to all eHealth services. While patients and healthcare providers have access to original data, others, including health authorities and researchers, may access specific data in accordance with their legal basis and project approval.

“In recent years some countries included in this review have introduced the implementation of electronic patient records, which could potentially create new datasets for research. In Australia and Austria patients have the option to opt out of using electronic records altogether, or to exclude certain information from being stored in the file or from being visible/accessible to certain providers (see Table 6.1). In Australia patients are additionally informed when a service provider accesses their file. My Health Record data can be used for research purposes, provided patients have not objected to the use of their data for research (using an opt-out system). Although the Austrian model initially foresaw a similar clause for research use, the political will to implement it is said to have been lacking. It is obvious that depending on how many and which patients decide for or against the use of such applications, and in accordance with the precise design options for access rights, the completeness and representativeness of the data could be significantly limited.”

“Privacy and data protection are two separate but related rights, both considered vital to a sustainable and well-fortified democracy. They are instrumental in preserving and promoting other fundamental values and rights, like freedom of speech and most countries have legally recognized the right to privacy, either constitutionally or through legislative action (European Data Protection Supervisor, 2020). Privacy is also a recognized human right, enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR; Article 12), the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR; Article 8) (European Court of Human Rights (2021), and the European Charter of Fundamental Rights (ECFR; Article 7) (Box 7.1). All countries in this review are legally bound to the UDHR, while those in the EU are also beholden to the ECHR and ECFR. The concept of data protection derives from the right to privacy, operationalizing and implementing that right in a regulatory context. As such, data protection deals with safeguarding information relating to an identifiable person as well as its accessibility for said person; that is, information that could be leveraged to infringe on a person’s right to privacy. Over time, it has also evolved into a right itself; for example, the ECFR includes an explicit right to the protection of personal data (Article 8).”

“Information and communication technologies (ICTs) embody all digital technologies that support the electronic capture, storage, processing, and exchange of information in order to promote health, prevent illness, treat disease, manage chronic illness, and so on [1, 2]. In the health sector, ICTs refer to a set of projects or services that allow for remote care (telehealth), interdisciplinary clinical support, as well as knowledge transfer [3]. The use of ICTs has the potential to promote patient-centered healthcare at a lower cost, improve quality of care and information sharing, educate health professionals and patients, encourage a new form of relationship between patients and their health providers, reduce travel time, etc. [1, 4, 5]. Despite these well-known advantages, the implementation of ICTs in practice remains difficult and involves changes at different levels, including with respect to patients, healthcare providers, and healthcare organizations [6].”

Source: Rouleau G, Gagnon MP, Côté J. Impacts of information and communication technologies on nursing care: an overview of systematic reviews (protocol). Syst Rev. 2015;4:75. Published 2015 May 23. doi:10.1186/s13643-015-0062-y

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World Health Systems Facts currently has sections on the US and sixteen other OECD nations. The links below lead directly to national sections on Healthcare Information and Communication Techologies:

World Health Systems Facts is a project of the Real Reporting Foundation. We provide reliable statistics and other data from authoritative sources regarding health systems and policies in the US and sixteen other nations.

Page last updated September 5, 2025 by Doug McVay, Editor.