German hospitals to exchange patient data
- 28 November 2007
Staff at Heidelberg University Hospital, Germany, and neighbouring hospitals will soon routinely exchange comprehensive patient data across sites using a new connectivity solution.
InterComponentWare AG (ICW) will provide Heidelberg and linked hospitals with its new hospital connectivity solution Professional Exchange Server (PXS).
The PXS will be used for the first time in five hospitals, two nursing schools, three senior citizens’ and nursing homes, three geriatric rehabilitation clinics, two health and nursing schools as well as one pharmacy across the German regions of Sinsheim, Weinheim, Schwetzingen, and Eberbach. In so doing, the aim is to drive the seamless exchange of information between facilities and care providers across the sites.
An ICW spokesperson told E-Health Europe: “For the first time, we are enabling the exchange of medical information across various sites. In Rhine-Neckar, patients with cancer are moved to different sites as part of their ongoing treatment plans and passing information along has historically been a very long procedure – taking a lot of time. Integrating with a new Health Information System, all clinicians will now have access to data on their patients from one exchange system.”
The scope of the Rhine-Neckar project is similar to Health Information Exchange (HIE) initiatives being launched in the United States.
Information is fed to the new inter-facility electronic patient record from existing IT and imaging systems in the facilities. A high-performance Master Patient Index (MPI) is utilised to reliably and safely identify patients and enable access to medical information.
Prof. Bjorn Bergh, director of information and medical technology at Heidelberg University Hospital, comments: “We are pursuing two main goals with this project: Facilitating the access to relevant information of mutual patients and actively including patient participation in the treatment process. In both instances, we have found the ideal partner in ICW and have jointly developed a pragmatic concept to help us achieve these goals without interfering with existing systems.”
Phase two of the project will network office-based physicians with patients via LifeSensor, ICW’s Web-based, patient-centric personal health record that collects and communicates patient information.
Use of LifeSensor is intended to improve the quality of care and support disease management programs. It will also enable the citizens to improve their personal health and wellness efforts.
Rudiger Burger, CEO of the Health Centers Rhine-Neckar, said: “The connectivity solution Professional Exchange Server enables us to establish highly efficient and integrated care processes. The data exchange between our hospitals and Heidelberg University Hospital will continue to improve medical care in the metropolis region Rhine-Neckar.”
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Joe Fernandez
