Jönköping, 07/07/2009 (Agence Europe) - The European pilot on-line health project, epSOS (European Patients Smart Open Services), is about to take a decisive step to become up and running with “functional specifications” relating to electronic prescription being established from the end of July, it was announced on Monday 6 July by the official in charge of coordination for the project, Fredrik Linden, at the Swedish association for local and regional authorities (SKL). He was speaking on the occasion of a seminar organised on the sidelines of the informal meeting of health ministers. These “functional specifications” are the result of conditions set by doctors and pharmacists involved in the project in order to make the crossborder use of electronic prescriptions possible. With the latter, “patients may be prescribed new medicines when they are abroad and their country of origin will be informed of this at the same time and, in the event of hospitalisation, doctors will have access to patients' medical records”, Mr Linden said. Launched on 1 July, 2008, the epSOS project, which groups 12 member states and is coordinated by Sweden, aims to improve patient mobility and security. It promotes interoperability of healthcare in Europe at a time when European citizens are becoming increasingly mobile. When it is a matter of some diseases that only a handful of specialists in Europe can treat, epSOS must allow “patient information to follow that patient wherever he/she is treated”, Mr Linden added. With financing of up to €22 million, half of which is borne by the Commission and the other half by the states participating in the project, epSOS will be the subject of a comprehensive assessment in 2011. Mr Linden, however, has every hope of seeing the project continue beyond that date, and possibly open up to other member states. “I feel very positive”, he said. (S.B./transl.jl)