Health Cards '97 is the fourth international congress on patient data cards and health professional cards. Previous congresses took place in Barcelona (1991), Marseille (1993) and Frankfurt (1995).

The congress is held from November 12-14 at the facilities of the RAI in Amsterdam, and is accompanied by an international industrial exhibition with over 50 exhibitors, promoting their latest products.

Since Health Cards '95 in Frankfurt and after the successful implementation of the German ‘Versichertenkarte’, a number of countries also started projects for nation-wide introduction of smartcards. France, Spain and Belgium seem to be leading the way. France and Germany are working closely together on issues of interoperability.

Large scale implementation and harmonisation are some of the main issues of Health Cards '97. The importance of confidentiality and security is also stressed extensively. The closing forum discussion deals with the introduction of the European Health Passport.

In addition you will find information on the following subjects: interoperability, financial aspects, legal aspects, project reports and technical issues. Both the results of the European CARDLINK-project and the developments in North America will have their own special session.

The importance of the congress may be deducted from the presence of Mrs. Else Borst, Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport of The Netherlands, who will open Health Cards '97. During the bi-annual Health Cards congress, which is the meeting place for everyone involved in the use of cards in health care, many high-ranking officials from all over the world will present their views and visions. Not only are there plenty of opportunities to exchange experiences, it also gives an outlook on things to come in the near future.

More than 70 contributions are concentrated in this volume. Great jobs have been done by Astrid Klaassen, who chased a number of speakers for their contribution, and by Lia Termijn and Madeleine Koudstaal, who finalised the layout of the papers in order to produce these proceedings.

Schiedam, October 1997

Laurens van den Broek and Annet J. Sikkel