Earlier this year, I took a three-month sabbatical at the Universidad Catolica (UC) and its extended healthcare institutions in Santiago, Chile, where I was able to make some observations on the implementation of an electronic medical record (EMR) and other eHealth developments that could provide some lessons for similar implementations in Australia.

The Chilean healthcare system is funded under a national health insurance scheme which is sourced by a seven per cent tax on incomes. The system has separated into two main streams of care delivery with public and private components. Care within the private system usually requires supplementary funding from the patient or insurance, and like in Australia, patients may have care in both systems.