Networking between hospitals? Why buy new software?
Digital data exchange between hospitals is often not possible without replacing software.
However, Heidelberg University Clinic, and its partner hospitals, have become the first to use a solution called ICW ProfessionalGate, which, the maker InterComponentWare (ICW) reports, can connect existing hospital information systems (HIS) without them having to buy and adapt new software for data migration and employee training.
‘Within a Virtual Medical Record, ICW ProfessionalGate provides a consolidated view of all the medical data that are available on a patient in the connected hospitals,’ the firm reports. ‘This information is always retrieved directly from the HIS in which it was created. As a result, the latest diagnoses, imaging, and laboratory data are available.’ The virtual record also provides information in real time, it adds.
All patient data from the different HIS systems must be associated with just one single person. This task is handled by the ICW Master Patient Index (MPI), which compares the master data of the various systems and, when a match is found, assigns it to a patient. ‘If no unique association is possible (because of small differences in the data sets), the MPI activates a clearing unit in the hospital. Even in very large data volumes, it quickly finds individual patient data: In a load test with up to 100 million patient data records, stable response times of under one second were achieved,’ ICW reports.
Later general practitioners (GPs) and patients are to be integrated in the network, enabling them to provide patients with their test results and diagnoses, in their medical records to take to hospital ready for admission. During discharge, hospital treatment data can be transferred to the medical record, so the GP can begin follow-up treatment without delay.
* The ICW MPI conforms with the Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE) initiative, which aims to improve data exchange among clinical computer systems. This year, ICW MPI was at eHealth Week 2007, for the first time, and took part in the practical test called Connectathon. ICW reports that it demonstrated trouble-free interaction with products from other manufacturers: ‘Currently systems of General Electric, TietoEnator, Chili, and SAP have been integrated; others will follow.’
26.06.2007
