The HIS as sparring-partner

  • HCM SPELLED OUT – The HIS as sparring-partner

In our third  "HCM WRIT LARGE" series, we are focusing on the question of the relationship between the JiveX Healthcare Content Management system (HCM) and the HIS, and what advantages the interplay between the two systems has in the day-to-day work of the hospital.

Firstly, however, we take a look at the fundamental delimitations of the two systems. The HIS is, without doubt, the most important IT system in a hospital when it comes to managing the patient visit and billing. It not only supports the creation of reports on findings, automates standard processes and provides valuable aids to decision-taking for medical processes. It also provides the basis for calculating the DRGs and thus for the financial stability of a hospital.

However, the HIS is also a egotistical system: It is only concerned with itself, and only feeds itself data that it can make use of itself. For example, if we start to talk about displaying radiological images or revision-proof archiving, the HIS generally falls silent at that point! And that is precisely where HCM comes into play, as its core functionality is consolidating, preparing, displaying and archiving data for the medical purpose. To that extent, HIS and HCM operate in a complementary manner, and it is advisable to allow both systems to run in parallel and not to mix them up.

However, that doesn't mean that the systems have no points of contact during daily working. Quite the opposite! It is precisely because the functionalities complement one another that deep integration is required.

Truly well-integrated

To fully exploit the benefits of HCM, the system is reliant on a lot of information from the HIS. Above all and primarily, on the patient master data, needed to enable clear patient- or case-centered assignment and display of the medical data in HCM. Transfer of the master data is via HL7 ADT messages, which should contain the following information: Clear ID number for patient and case, demographic master data, information about the specialist departments providing treatment, and information about patient movements such as admission, transfer or discharge.

Beyond that, it is clever to also import the findings created in HIS into HCM for revision-proof archiving. This is performed using HL7 MDM messages, via which medical documents and their metadata can be transferred.

What is decisive is not only what the HIS can do for HCM, but also what HCM can do for the HIS. For example, it can ensure - throughout the full stay of a patient - that all medically-relevant information is always available at every point of the visit.  As soon as the data feeds into HCM, the system informs HIS about the patient and case context, along with the data classification. For this, HCM needs to support various HL7 message types. The various HIS systems interpret the specifications from the standards and IHE profiles differently - with the result that workflows are communicated using different HL7 message types.

Further standards that the HCM needs to master in order to ensure intelligent integration into the HIS are those described in the IHE-XDS profile. The profile enables the acceptance and return flow of documents and metadata between two systems. This means that the HIS can request return of documents once sent, for example in order to update a finding.

And, lastly, there is the most important integration for users. This is the Multiformat Viewer, enabling the consolidated viewing of all HCM medical data from the HIS interface or even within the interface too. Embedding of this kind can be realized using parameterizable hyperlinks.


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