Without proper agreements on standards, the digitization of the healthcare landscape remains a difficult puzzle to solve. While in these times there is an urgent need to share valuable data that benefits both the healthcare professional and the patient. Hans Mekenkamp (PHIT), Wilco Schuttelaar (Founda), and Michel van Velde (iO) talk about this at Emerce Health.
Under the leadership of Krijn Schuurman, the three will discuss the contribution digital technology can make to better care, what are the main barriers and what is the importance of standards for effective data exchange.
According to Mekenkamp, healthcare is technically a very complex organization. “A vision has already been written about how to better exchange information, for example between general practitioners and pharmacists, but at the moment, the pieces of the puzzle do not fit well.”
And according to Mekenkamp, it’s only going to get worse now that more and more apps are being introduced that share healthcare information, both regulated and unregulated. Michel van Velde (iO) argues that the task of a national or European government is to dictate standards. “The information provided by the Dutch College of General Practitioners (NHG) on Thuisarts.nl is based on standards, but we simply cannot publish it in Germany and England because different standards apply there. While you can already finalize open data and European privacy agreements.”
Austria and Switzerland made better agreements.
Wilco Schuttelaar (Founda) acknowledges that existing Babbelonia also provides a lot of work for technical parties and consultants. “Even if you have a standard, there are still differences in the processing of data by hospitals. What we call last-mile integration still requires a lot of work.”
In addition, there is a trend that healthcare consumers are increasingly using their own resources. Shotelaar mentions an ultrasound for pregnant women, a device you can order from Amazon. “They can’t read the data, but they like to control themselves.”
With the standards, foreign aid workers can also read and evaluate the data.
However, it regularly happens that suppliers sometimes sit together and make mutual agreements about standards. This has happened with medical imaging manufacturers, including Philips and Siemens.
Presentation The importance of digitization and standards in an era of increasing demand for free healthcare can be viewed after registration.
