page_title: Healthcare in Austria
section_title: Electronic health records
hierarchical_section_title: Healthcare in Austria / Electronic health records
caption_attribution_description: English: Structure and basic components of the Austrian Electronic Health Records (ELGA)
context_page_description: The nation of Austria has a two-tier health care system in which virtually all individuals receive publicly funded care, but they also have the option to purchase supplementary private health insurance. Care involving private insurance plans can include more flexible visiting hours and private rooms and doctors. Some individuals choose to completely pay for their care privately.
  Healthcare in Austria is universal for residents of Austria as well as those from other EU countries. Students from an EU/EEA country or Switzerland with national health insurance in their home country can use the European Health Insurance Card. Self-insured students have to pay an insurance fee of EUR 52.68 per month.
  Enrollment in the public health care system is generally automatic and is linked to employment, however insurance is also guaranteed to co-insured persons, pensioners, students, the disabled, and those receiving unemployment benefits. Enrollment is compulsory, and it is not possible to cross-shop the various social security institutions. Employers register their employees with the correct institution and deduct the health insurance tax from employees' salaries.
context_section_description: In December 2012 Austria introduced an Electronic Health Records Act (EHR-Act). These provisions are the legal foundation for a national EHR system based upon a substantial public interest according to Art 8(4) of the Data Protection Directive 95/46/EC.
  The Austrian EHR-Act pursues an opt-out approach in order to harmonize the interests of public health and privacy in the best possible manner.
  The 4th Part of the Austrian Health Telematics Act 2012 (HTA 2012) – these are the EHR provisions – are one of the most detailed data protection rules within Austrian legislation. Numerous safeguards according to Art 8(4) DPD guarantee a high level of data protection. For example:
  personal health data needs to be encrypted prior to transmission (§ 6 HTA 2012), or
  strict rules on data usage allow personal health data only to be used for treatment purposes or exercising patients' rights (§ 14 HTA 2012), or
  patients may declare their right to opt out from the national EHR at any time (§ 15 HTA 2012), or
  the implementation of an EHR-Ombudsman, to support the patients in exercising their rights (§ 17 HTA 2012), or
  the Access Control Center provides EHR-participants with full control over their data (§ 21 HTA 2012), or
  judicial penalties for privacy breaches (Art 7 of the EHR-Act).
caption: Structure and basic components of the Austrian EHR (ELGA)
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