ICMCC Event Preview 3

The second part of the Monday also has 2 sessions, each having 2 parallel tracks.

Read the rest of this entry »

Improving Healthcare Middleware Standards with Semantic methods and technologies

Abstract:
A critical issue in healthcare informatics is to facilitate the integration and interoperability of applications. This goal can be achieved through an open architecture based on a middleware independent from specific applications; useful for working with existing systems, as well as for the integration of new systems. Several standard organizations are making efforts toward this target. This work is based on the EN 12967-1,2,3, developed by CEN, that follows the ODP (Open Distributed Processing) methodology, providing a specification of distributed systems based on the definition of five viewpoints. However, only the three upper viewpoints are used to produce EN 12967, the two lower viewpoints should be considered in the implementation context. We are using Semantic Grid for lower views and Semantic Web and Web Services for the definition of the upper views. We analyze benefits of using these methods and technologies and expose methodology for the development of this semantic healthcare middleware observing European Standards.

Isabel Román^a,b, Jorge Calvillo^b,a, Laura M. Roa^a,b and Germán Madinabeitia^a
a University of Seville, Spain
^b CIBER-BBN, Seville, Spain

To be published in “Medical and Care Compunetics 5″, IOSPress, 2008.
To be presented at the ICMCC Event 2008.

“Hospital information systems are not indispensable”

“Traditional telecommunication companies are heavily involved in European e-health- markets. In the UK BT is a key supplier behind the multi-billion English NHS IT programme, and T-Systems, Deutsche Telekom’s IT and business networking division, is equally committed.
Hubert Haag, head of the international healthcare business at T-Systems, told E-Health Europe that with 12,000 European healthcare customers T-Systems is a leading player when it comes to e-health solutions in Europe.”
Article
e-Health Europe, 8 January 2008

Sharable EHR Systems in Finland

Kari Harno and Pekka Ruotsalainen
Helsinki University Central Hospital, Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa;
National Research and Development Centre for Welfare and Health, Finland

Abstract

In Finland, the shared record is a virtual electronic health record (EHR). It consists of health data generated, maintained and preserved by different health care service providers. Two different kinds of technologies for integrating regional EHR-systems are applied, but mainly by using a common middleware. Services provided by this middleware are EHR location services using a link repository and combining EHR-viewing services with security management services including consent management and identification services for health professionals. The Regional Health Information Organization (UUMA) approach is based on a stepwise implementation of integrated regional healthcare services to create a virtually borderless healthcare organization - a patient centered virtual workspace. In the virtual workspace multi-professional teams and patients collaborate and share information regardless of time and place. Presently the regional health information network (RHIN) is comprised of three integrated services between primary, secondary and tertiary care within the county of Uusimaa. The regional healthcare modules consist of an (1) eReferral network, (2) integrated EHR service between health care professionals and (3) PACS system. The eReferral between primary and secondary care not only speeds up the transfer, but also offers an option for communication in the form of eConsultation between general practitioners and hospital specialists. By sharing information and knowledge remote eConsultations create a new working environment for integrated delivery of eServices between the health care providers. Over 100 000 eReferral messages (40 %) were transferred between health care providers. Interactive eConsultations enable supervised care leading to the reduction of outpatient visits and more timely appointments. One third (10/31) of the municipal health centers are connected to the clinics in the Helsinki University Central Hospital by the eReferral system. The link directory service extends the dimensions of networking between organizations by combining legacy systems within regional primary and secondary care. The link directory is an interface to diverse patient information systems, like HUSpacs, containing links pointing to the actual patient data located in remote information systems. The original data including images can be viewed with a web browser, but data can be accessed only with the patient’s informed consent. Currently the reference data base includes 9.5 million links from 1.4 million patients with over 2.000 daily users. We aim to create a new working environment for professionals by incorporation of innovative information and communication technology, new organization of work and re-engineering of workflows. In the near-future, the citizen will have an active role participating in decisions on his care, carrying out guided self-care and taking steps of pro-active prevention.