May 12, 2023
May 12, 2023
Six oncology hospitals in the oncology network Oncomid have successfully addressed their integration challenges by modernising their data-sharing architecture at regional Multidisciplinary Team Meetings (EN: MDTs / NL: MDOs) in oncology. This established regional platform aims to offer any referred patient suspected of cancer the best options to get the best treatment advice – faster.
In 2021, the central hospital – UMC Utrecht and five partner institutions (Meander Medical Centre, St. Antonius Hospital, Tergooi Hospital, Rivierenland Tiel Hospital and Diakonessenhuis Utrecht) started the Data-Dalen Midden-Nederland (DDMN) project (English: Data-Sharing in the Central Netherlands).
The initiative is set to enhance the quality of care for patients in the region by focusing on improving the outcomes, increasing clinical efficiency, improving the satisfaction of healthcare professionals involved, and by enhancing the automation of data exchange for patients referred to regional MDTs.
Arjo Boendermaker, program manager for DDMN, has been leading the implementation of a solution to support regional Oncology MDTs based on Parsek’s Vitaly platform, provisioned by Open Line’s SAAS solution.
The challenge of organising large amounts of data in a safe and secure way
One of the significant challenges when building digitally supported MDTs in the region was the need to manage and organise large amounts of data cross-institutions, which can become overwhelming and complex to handle without proper organisation, governance and tools.
Registering and scheduling patients, preparing, and conducting MDTs in the past required a great deal of manual, administrative work that could have been avoided using the proper digital support. In addition, the exchange of patient data for the MDT has usually been done manually (sending DVDs by post) or via a portal where patient data was uploaded manually.
Dr Koos van der Hoeven, Chairman at Oncomid, discusses challenges from a not-so-distant past and what value Vitaly brings to regional clinical teams and patients. (credits: UMC Utrecht Digitale Masterclass, Sep 2022).
Another challenge was ensuring data security since storing sensitive information must be protected from unauthorised access.
Vitaly MDT platform in the central Netherlands
The DDMN project aims to improve the quality of cancer care in Oncomid by providing an efficient digital support system for the multidisciplinary oncology teams in the region. It focuses on enhancing the automated exchange of patient data for patients referred to regional oncological Multidisciplinary Team Meetings (MDTs) and supporting the process of preparing and conducting MDTs.
The project significantly improves the quality of the information available to MDT participants, helping them make informed decisions in the shortest time possible. It makes documenting the outcome of MDT discussions easier because patient decisions will be captured and written back to the Electronic Medical Record (EMR).
Vitaly MDT platform integrates patient data from different systems – Chipsoft, Epic, EasyCare EMRs, and Philips and Enovation XDS, based on Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE) standard for exchanging medical images and documents. This makes it easier, faster and less burdensome to refer a patient to a regional MDT meeting from any involved institution.
Most importantly, the patient is being discussed within days instead of the norm of 2 weeks, delays due to rescheduling patients due to lack of information are reduced, and every patient receives the same quality of care. For healthcare professionals, it is expected that burdensome administrative work will be reduced to 30 minutes per patient, freeing up valuable clinical time to spend elsewhere.
Arjo Boendermaker elaborates on the benefits for patients, administrators and clinicians when using Vitaly (credits: UMC Utrecht Digitale Masterclass, Sep 2022).
Future-proof MDTs built for expansion
DDMN has been set to support four oncology MDTs (urology, gynaecology, liver and upper gastrointestinal cancer), with another five MDTs that are excited to start using the new platform.
“With the implemented solution, it is expected that the hospitals involved will discuss more than 8,000 patients each year. However, there is no reason to stop at oncology because we have built this platform with further uses in mind.”, says Boendermaker.
“Projects like DDMN are showing the way: and they need platforms like Vitaly, which is specialised to sit in between healthcare organisations to integrate with all other vendors and support the MDT process. Open Line and Parsek have been excellent partners to make it successful, says Arjo Boendermaker, Program Manager Data-Delen Midden-Nederland.