Borderless Communication among Hospitals with HISCOM

ISH Informatika Kft. (as a part of the Hungarian Telekom Group), a leading healthcare IT solution provider in Hungary released HISCOM (Hospital Information System and COMmunication) which provides borderless connectivity between hospitals and clinics all over the country in a single, easy-to-use application. This cross-institutional data communication system increases efficiency and reduces the possibility of errors during data communication among hospitals running different Hospital Information Systems (HIS).

Healthcare IT services of various fields have undergone enormous development during the last decade. Primary systems have been replaced by complex patient administration systems. These improvements, which were carried out independently of one another, have mainly focused on healthcare facilities both in Hungary and in other European countries. Consequently, participants of the public healthcare system now use a wide variety of stand-alone IT systems.

During the preliminary surveys, our development engineers found that almost all healthcare service providers (hospitals, clinics, general practitioners, primary healthcare institutions, etc.) currently have their own IT systems; moreover, many of them use some kind of internal data communication functions as well. At the same time, information exchange among different locations is mostly paper-based; thus data flow is slow and papers may get lost or mixed up. A number of studies have proven that usually 15–25 % of the necessary information (e.g. examination results sent from polyclinics or laboratories to general practitioners) does not reach its destination. Looking at the situation from the healthcare service users’ point of view also reveals shortcomings: people do not have any electronic access to the IT systems of their service providers.

When someone is taken to hospital due to an illness or an accident, life or death may depend on whether reliable information on the medical history is quickly available for those taking care of the patient. Our development team has designed an online system which enables the attending physician to reach the information necessary for precise and rapid care; and all this is achieved whilst ensuring the fulfilment of strict data protection criteria. For this purpose, patients’ medical histories (results of earlier examinations, medical reports, final reports, etc.) are stored in electronic format and not on paper, and thus become available directly from the health service provider rather than from the patient. HISCOM knows where, when and what medical attendance patients have received; and gives them an opportunity to control how their documents may be accessed by others. At the same time, it processes patient’s medical data solely with their consent.

Although it is a basic need that healthcare data should be more rapidly accessible, more precise information should allow of making good decisions as soon as possible, it is at least of the same importance that, by significantly reducing processing time, patients can use the services more conveniently, while maximum data protection is maintained. It is important to emphasise that the HISCOM Centre will not store any data or patient documentation; they will continue to be stored where they are generated.

So HISCOM connects up those involved in the health sector, and provides continuous service (like an IT utility). At the same time, it complies with Hungarian data security requirements which are unusually stringent even by EU terms.

By means of devices generally found in households (e.g. cable TV, mobile phone, Internet), these ultramodern and state-of-the-art developments make high-standard healthcare services available to everyone. At the same time, health service providers do not need to replace their existing IT devices, they can continue working in their own, familiar environment.

Full implementation and use of the HISCOM system will result in a tangible decrease in the health sector’s expenditures on the financing side: the number of unnecessarily and repeatedly performed examinations will drop, the utilisation degree of health capacities will rise, and the number of active working days can also be increased, as less time will need to be spent on booking, travelling, and waiting for medical reports.

HISCOM has been developed by the ISH’s project company (Pan-Inform Kft.) in Hungary, as part of the Economic Development Operational Programme of the National Development Agency. The project was subsidised by a € 1 million grant from the European Union, with co-financing by the European Regional Development Fund.