Information technology critical to nationwide redesign of HAI prevention

“A nationwide redesign to reduce healthcare-associated infections is in the works, using information technology to build a national definition of prevention.”
Article
Chelsey Ledue, Healthcare IT News, 25 September 2008

University Of Minnesota Researchers Plan Trial Of Web-Based HIV Prevention Program

“Researchers at the University of Minnesota plan to begin a clinical trial to test a Web-based software program that aims to fight the spread of HIV by reducing risky behaviors that can spread the virus, ANI/Malaysia Sun reports.”
Article
Medical News Today, 24 December 2007

Coalition urges IT role in battling chronic disease

“A coalition dedicated to fighting chronic diseases is calling for accelerating the use of information technology throughout the healthcare system.”
Article
Bernie Monegain, Healthcare IT News, 26 September 2007

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.