The Telehealth law could be passed before the end of the year, based on the bill presented by Mario Fiad, senator for Jujuy (Juntos por el Cambio), which has been approved by the Upper House and is being dealt with in the Chamber of Deputies. The Electronic Health Record bill is at the same stage, which led to a conference on "Digital health and innovation in Argentina: a parliamentary action plan", recently held in the Senate.

The main objective of the Telehealth bill, according to Fiad, is to promote the development of telehealth as a federal healthcare strategy. Also, to define the conditions for implementation and the practices that are carried out; to contribute to improving health conditions of the population; to strengthen the systems and their integration; to promote the continuous education and training of human resources and optimize the services available.

The six principles on which the initiative is based are universality, accessibility, information security and data protection, equity, confidentiality and decentralization. The functions of the application authority proposed in the bill include accrediting, registering and evaluating professionals and services; developing and promoting research; creating collaborative systems integrating subsystems; strengthening the capacities of telehealth teams; defining standards, monitoring and auditing compliance; as well as developing standards that guarantee the safeguarding of data.

Regarding the registration in the medical record, Fiad pointed out that it is not "the transcription of the manual history". It consists of a record of the data, but at the same time it should act as a mechanism for collecting and protecting the professional's reliable data, which are recorded in the medical record. The telemedicine act, then, must become a medical act recorded in the medical record, in order to protect both the patient's and the professional's safety.

Santa Fe. At the provincial level, progress is not even among jurisdictions. At the beginning of October, the Social Action and Public Health Committee of the Chamber of Deputies of Santa Fe issued an opinion in favor of a bill, with the support of both the ruling party and the opposition, to give patients free access to their medical records. The initiative was thus ready to be discussed in the provincial chamber for its approval. The text even goes beyond the district of Santa Fe: it stipulates the creation of the Single National Program for the computerization and digitalization of the Medical Records of the Argentine Republic.

Silvia Ciancio, radical deputy for Santa Fe and president of the Health Commission, explained that the district seeks to establish a regulatory framework for "digital health", understanding it as the incorporation of digital technologies into healthcare processes to improve the quality of life of the population. "To the extent that the focus is not placed on training health personnel, if physicians are not empowered with technologies, it is difficult for this to last," she warned during her participation in the session in the Senate.

EHR. The basic element of digital health, the electronic health record (EHR), is the first step in the intervention of medical personnel in electronic platforms. During the Government Networks and Smart Cities 2022 event - Norte Grande, organized by Grupo Convergencia in early October in Resistencia, the problem of EHR management for healthcare staff became evident. Salta started developing an EHR in 2015, after a first incursion with the Acuario platform: that is why they are currently dealing with three types of EHRs, the Acuario EHR for the first level of care, the Hospital Materno Infantil's own system and the provincial development "Salta Salud". Verónica Guzmán, Secretary of Organizational Development of the Salta Ministry of Public Health, admitted to Convergencia that the current challenge is to achieve interoperability between the systems. "They are not yet linked with each other. We are testing to achieve this between Salta Salud and Acuario," she said.

The weakness observed in Salta is "the culture of registration", as defined by Guzmán. "It is necessary to undertake permanent training in the areas where we have medical records. We want to move forward, but we are still in the negotiating stage".

Faced with the three different platforms used by the medical staff in Salta, in Santiago del Estero they are working on a system of digital medical records "with very good results", according to Mariné Ibañez, head of digital health training and the local Ministry of Health's network program. The agency has managed to organize the work methods of the administrative sectors, such as nurses, agents and doctors. "We need to be clear about the people working in each sector and their tasks, as well as the working days and hours. Since the system was implemented, the work culture has changed. The staff is accompanied in the implementation, through constant assistance. We are in very close contact with the agents who perform tasks in sectors that require support at any time," the official said.