electronic smart health cards

electronic smart health cards

An important innovation in the automation of health care administration and in the preservation and accessibility of personal health data that was adopted in France in April, 1998. Smart cards are EPROMs (erasable programmable read-only memories) that contain administrative information and details such as blood group and allergies. When inserted, along with the doctor's or pharmacist's card, into a computerized card reader, a claim form for the cost of treatment is automatically generated and the details are sent to the patient's insurer. Future versions may contain full medical records.