Managing integrated oncology treatment in virtual networks

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Health Informatics
• Healthcare Management

Background:

• High-quality oncological networks require coordinated, interdisciplinary, and intersectoral healthcare management.
• Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPGs) are crucial for standardizing cancer care processes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To create a "cookbook" template for oncological networks.
• To base the cookbook on formalized, guideline-compliant care processes.
• To improve cancer treatment control through structured care pathways.

Main Methods:

• Formalization of three S3-guidelines (breast, colon, prostate carcinoma).
• Transformation of platform-independent process fragments into an HL7-based metamodel for clinical pathway modeling.
• Qualitative guided interviews with healthcare experts.

Main Results:

• Development of a metamodel for clinical pathway modeling based on formalized CPGs.
• Creation of a use case for tumor board scheduling integrated with a national electronic case record.
• A cookbook demonstrating controlled treatment via interdisciplinary and intersectoral processes.

Conclusions:

• The developed cookbook provides a template for guideline-compliant, coordinated cancer care.
• The HL7-based metamodel facilitates the modeling of clinical pathways.
• This approach enhances interdisciplinary and intersectoral collaboration in oncological networks.