Digital hospitals: bringing together what belongs together

And of course administration and financial controlling departments require all kinds of IT systems – and ideally everything should interact as harmoniously as the cogs of a well-kept Swiss clock. At this year’s DMEA the hospital IT specialist NEXUS AG will be showing that this is possible. Sales director Daniel Heine also reveals how a modern hospital information system (HIS) can intelligently support imaging diagnostics and why patient portals have to be more than PDF processors.

Anyone who sets foot in a hospital nowadays sees more computers than stethoscopes. Depending on the unit the computers run completely differing, often highly specialised software. What does that mean for a company making hospital information systems?

Nowadays, a hospital information system must be able to manage a variety of systems. Interoperability is the key here. Failing that, it is possible to create a halfway uniform interface with a rights and roles-based access concept, but nothing more. That is less than perfect because the focus in a hospital is on efficient processes. These can only function smoothly with the various units’ differing IT systems communicating in-depth. That is something we will be showing at DMEA with our NEXUS / KISNG, a fourth-generation hospital information system. One highlight is the central processing unit with which hospital processes can be defined and controlled across differing IT systems. It means we are fully up to speed. Lawmakers are demanding ever-increasing interoperability, within the framework of the Hospital Future Act for example. That is a requirement we already fulfil. For example, out of all the HIS manufacturers we were the first to obtain IsiK certification from gematik. We are very proud of that. And that is not all, because we can expect even more from ISiK and co.

Is there more to NEXUS than HIS?

Indeed there is, and we will be showing this at DMEA. The company’s other mainstay is diagnostics, where for everything ranging from opthalmology to cytology we provide specialist systems that merge seamlessly with the NEXUS operating concept and consequently our hospital information system. This works because for many years we have made use of FHIR interfaces not just for external communications. We consistently use FHIR for internal communications between individual hospital modules too. Ultimately, it also helps us implement systems in existing IT infrastructures.

What will your company’s focus be at this year’s DMEA?

In addition to HIS and interoperability, NEXUS / ADVANCED REPORTING will be a key topic at the fair. This theme complex originated in the field of special diagnostics which we have already talked about. The idea is for the diagnosis to write itself so to speak, while the examination is ongoing. To this end we employ terminology using which we assign keywords to a diagnostic pattern, as well as graphics, where users can also insert speech for documentation purposes. In order for it to function we integrate the data flows from medical devices of all kinds. During an endoscopy one would be able to diagnose polyps using text and graphics in real time for example. In the meantime the NEXUS / ADVANCED REPORTING module has acquired capabilities beyond special diagnostics and it assists users in generating texts of all kinds. With customer projects, we were able to register time savings of up to 80 per cent in diagnostics and documentation – in the fields of psychiatry, cardiology and urology for instance. That is something we will specifically be showing at DMEA.

If a hospital using interoperable tools generates large volumes of structured data, where does that then go for best possible availability?

Interoperability is of course not just something to do with hospital workplace systems, but also involves archiving. In addition to a uniform interface, our Vendor Neutral Archive and NEXUS / CDR IHE repository is another software layer augmenting our hospital applications. NEXUS / VNA offers legally sound long-term archiving as well as optimum data availability. Our approach is that data collected in a structured manner should be archived correspondingly. We also take the same approach with external data that comes from patient portals for instance. Visitors can find out about the details on our stand at DMEA.

Patient portals have received a boost in particular from the above-mentioned Hospital Future Act. To what degree does this still concern you? What will the next big hospital IT topics be?

We are still witnessing a great many calls for tender, and that will continue to be a topic in 2023. We expanded our patient portal following the Hospital Future Act in order to meet all requirements. The principal feature here is in-depth integration. As well as being able to archive external documents there are approval processes involved and individual procedures are triggered. As a rule it works using FHIR®. What will come after the Hospital Future Act? The topic will clearly be IS-H and SAP. Our strategy in that direction is clear – over the last five years we have converted an increasing number of IS-H installations and recently successfully replaced IS-H / i.s.h.med. in an entire hospital cluster. As regards invoicing we are able to fully meet current requirements with our own solution and see ourselves as an attractive partner in that respect. We are able to build on long years of experience and have an established product that is scalable and can be expanded.