**2. Range of digital health solutions used to improve access to healthcare**

The range of technological solutions that are used to enable access to healthcare services is endless. The attempt here is to provide details of the eHealth/digital health types of applications that are more used rather than the list of technologies themselves. These include:

### **2.1 Electronic health record**

Electronic health record (EHR) is a repository of information regarding the health status of an individual in computer processable form which is collected primarily to support the provision of integrated holistic healthcare to that individual but may also be used, subject to legislation and consent, for secondary purposes that benefit the health of the wider community [24].

The EHR has been one of the most persistent and yet changing technology in healthcare. It's the cornerstone of any electronic health system which influences the rate of success of the digital health services in an institution or even a country. EHR systems come in different forms and sizes aiming at collecting, storing, sharing and utilization of health data by healthcare providers, the patient and other third-party players as the legal and ethical frameworks permit. The complexity of the record's structure, compliance with both semantic and syntactic standards, the interface, open vs. commercial suppliers, language version and many other issues pose challenges to implementation of EHR systems to enable access to health services.

### *Healthcare Access*

Healthcare institutions may avoid implementing of such systems due to a number of issues they face, which automatically limit access to healthcare services by people (patients and non-patients):


Despite all these challenges, benefits of an EHR system to collectively enable fast and reliable access to healthcare services have been documented. These can be:


*Improving Healthcare Access through Digital Health: The Use of Information… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.99607*

