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Updated: Jun 3, 97 |
USE DHE | |
| User-Group on the architecture of healthcare information systems |
| Project Nr: | HC 3109 | Group: | Project Duration: 15 months |
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| Mission: | This project is an accompagnying measure for the HANSA project (Healthcare Advanced Networked System Architecture) which develops a middleware and an integration path to unite existing legacy systems on top of a common open middleware of healthcare-oriented functions. The Use DHE project will help to disseminate this concept to a larger user group by different means, including a conference on Healthcare Information Systems Architecture, and a WWW server which will host documents on the DHE middleware and implementation strategies. It will also produce specific training and information material for different user groups to foster the practical implementation of open architectures through use of common DHE middleware. | ||
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| Name of Institution | City+Postal Code | Country | Region |
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| SPRI | Stockholm, 10726 | Sweden | SE01 |
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By nature, healthcare organisational structure in all European Countries consists of networks of centres distributed over the territory, characterised by a high degree of heterogeneity and diversity, from the organisational, logistic, clinical and even cultural perspectives. In such overall scenario a huge number of applications (mutually isolated and incompatible) are already installed and operational, effectively supporting specific needs of the users. Under the present circumstances, the fundamental primary need for supporting the evolving requirements of the users is to make it possible such existing (legacy) system to interwork and to evolve towards new open, standard and modular architectures, concurrently securing the investments already made and ensuring the continuity of the work in the organisation. Not only such evolution is required to improve the clinical treatments, but it is also pushed by the urgent necessity of all European countries of controlling and optimising the current level of the expenditure for health, nevertheless ensuring the necessary qualitative level of services to all patients.
With the mission of facilitating such transition, the HANSA project (HC1019HC, running under the Telematics Application Programme since November 1995 up to Oct 97), is working for identifying common migration guide-lines and for demonstrating the validity of an evolution strategy based on the federation of the existing 'legacy' systems on top of a common, open middleware of healthcare-oriented functionalities. Within the HANSA project, the a middleware (i.e. the DHE: Distributed Healthcare Environment, developed in the frame of the previous EDITH/Italy project Esprit #7508), is being installed in the live environment of approximately 20 hospitals from nine European countries, and samples of the legacy systems already operational in the individual organisations are being integrated on top of it. The HANSA consortium is structured as a federation of 9 National Groups, comprising the main leading actors, both users and industries, in the national healthcare markets. UseDHE accompanying measure will promote and organise several initiatives, supporting and emphasising the activities of Hansa, with a view of disseminating and discussing in a larger User Group some fundamental issues related to the organisational, functional and engineering aspects of the healthcare information systems architectures. For this purpose, UseDHE will organise a conference on Healthcare Information Systems Architecture, will set-up a WWW server hosting documentation, and will publish and disseminate training and documentation material aiming at facilitating different types of users in the practical implementation of open architectures through the utilisation of the common DHE middleware. On behalf of the whole Hansa Consortium, UseDHE will be managed by Consorzio EDITH and by SPRI, two user-driven organisations, who will cooperate with the whole group of the Hansa participants for the logistic aspects in the individual countries.
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Users involved UseDHE will actually promote and organise a European user group, extending and complementing the user-organisation which already participate to Hansa. It will be managed by two user-driven organisations: Consorzio EDITH and by SPRI Technologies and/or approach used The technological solutions adopted by the DHE middleware are based on industrial standards to facilitate the evolution of existing legacy systems towards a distributed architecture, characterised by openness and modularity. Furthermore, also the functional and information characteristics of the DHE fully conform to the provisions being defined by the CEN/TC251/PT013 'Healthcare Information System Architecture'. Expected benefits for the citizen Federating existing applications on top of the common DHE middleware enables the creation of common repositories for the patient data, as well as the efficient interworking of the various units in the organisation. This will facilitate the improving of the quality of care provided to the patient, as well as a detailed monitoring of the healthcare expenditure, representing one of the most crucial concerns in all European countries. Expected benefits for the users of the application The main benefit for healthcare actors can be identified in the availability of an homogeneous environment (i.e. the DHE middleware), capable of integrating the different clinical and organisational information. Developers also will be facilitated during the whole life-cycle of the information system, thanks to the availability of a set of common services, capable of reducing the costs and times for the development and mantainance of the systems. Expected benefits for the European Industries The dissemination and wide utilisation of a common, standard middleware, capable of permitting the integration and interworking of different applications through public interfaces, will permit vertical applications to be more easily installed and adopted by a larger number of users. The size of the market which can be addressed by the individual industries (and particularly by the SME's) will be therefore extended. Contribution to EU-policies Creation of open standards allowing the interoperability of healthcare information systems is time consuming and expensive. Through the establishing of a group of healthcare organisations and industries from all European Countries, UseDHE will contribute in practice to the adoption of common solutions enabling vendor independence, flexibility and interoperability across countries. |
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