Baltic eHealth- empowering regional development in the Baltic Sea Region
Henning VossDanish Centre for Health Telematics
Baltic IT&IRiga April 2006
Benefits of cross-border telemedicine
• Mobility:
– Travelling patients
– Move the data – not the patient
• Improved access to more specialized healthcare
• Avoid bottlenecks
• Avoid doctors migration
Barriers to telemedicine
• Technical Interoperability
• Reimbursement not settled
• Legal issues
• Cultural and linguistic differences
Interoperability
We need:
1) Standards, terminology and semantic consensus
2) Network and security
Standards and semantic consensus in Denmark
Network and security inDenmark
• Internet-based
• Any data type
• From push to pull:
Receiver in charge
Patients access own data
Network and Security in the BSR- one step towards interoperability
Sweden
Norway
Vilnius
TallinnDenmark
BHN
???
The Baltic Health Data Network
Tools on the network
• Service Portal (yellow pages)
• Videoconferencing broker
• Collaboration Platform & Structured Reporting
Tool
• Common PACS archive for hospitals (??)
• Telemedicine broker (??)
Guidelines
• Legal
• Reimbursement
• Organisational
• Cultural / linguistic
eUltrasound
• Classical Second opinion approach:
• Mid-wives and doctors in Västerbotten
• The Norwegian Centre for Fetal Medicine
• First step – off-line consultation
• Second step – on-line consultation
eRadiology
• Lack of Radiologists in Funen hospital
Waiting lists and traveling to other hospitals.
• Solution:
• Images are taken in Funen
• Reports are made in Vilnius and Tallinn
• Start with conventional radiology
• Multi-lingual standardized reporting schemes
• Goal: From pilot to production (incl. business model)
Structured Reporting Tool
Acceptance of cross border remote reporting
A: If I can get a faster treatment in Denmark, it is all right if a doctor in a foreign country does the reading of my X-rays
B: ”I do not feel comfortable with having a doctor in a foreign country read my X-rays”
72 % agreed in statement A => high acceptance(n = 1988, Danish telephone survey, oct. 2005)
Initial Results
• Legal issues report• BHN is established• Collaboration platform• Structured Reporting Tool• Service Portal• Reports on financial, cultural and technical
issues (before summer)
Implications for potential medical users
• Solves interoperability problem
• Addresses other eHealth problems
• Demonstrates patient mobility
Discussion
• If successful the BHN could be the model for an European-wide secure and interoperable infrastructure.
Partners
Facts:• Ten partners
• Five countries
• Start: 2004
• End: 2007
• Budget: 2 M€
Thank you for your attention !
More Info:
Henning Voss: [email protected]
website: www.Baltic-eHealth.org
Baltic eHealth is co-financed by the BSR Interreg III B programme