Hospitals are generally more advanced: some have merged their internal clinic systems in recent years and hold
interdisciplinary patient files. However, the extent of this development varies greatly among hospitals and
across cantons, in spite of efforts by eHealth Suisse to convince providers of the benefits of EHRs for medical
practice. An interoperable national patient record is not a priority for eHealth Suisse, since the principles of
decentralization, privacy, and data protection are regarded as very important in Swiss health care.