A patient centered electronic health system: an example for cyprus.

The design and implementation of a healthcare system needs to follow a specific philosophy regarding its operational structure and must be adapted gradually with one step at a time, depending on the level of maturity of a country on certain key issues. The main goal of this paper is to present an overall recommendations framework for implementing an Electronic Health System at national level, guided by the Patient Centered Philosophy. Certain prerequisites for implementing such systems are analyzed together with guiding principles for identifying the maturity level of an organization or country. The maturity level analysis for Cyprus is presented and is accompanied by some recommendations that determine the steps needed to prepare the ground for a complete patient centered national healthcare system.