Exchanging Appointment Data Among Healthcare Institutions.

Area of Science:

• Health Informatics
• Digital Health
• Healthcare Management

Background:

• The Swiss electronic patient dossier (EPD) aims to digitize national healthcare processes.
• The current EPD framework neglects the critical appointment scheduling process.
• Existing IT systems utilize proprietary solutions for appointment booking, lacking standardization.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze current healthcare appointment scheduling processes and IT systems in Switzerland.
• To develop a standardized appointment data structure for cross-institutional data exchange.
• To propose a concept for integrating this structure into the Swiss EPD.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of existing outpatient and inpatient information systems for appointment booking.
• Development of a novel appointment data structure.
• Conceptualization of a data exchange process based on the Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR) standard.

Main Results:

• A significant lack of a unified standard for healthcare appointment data exchange was identified.
• A proposed appointment data structure and exchange process using the FHIR standard were developed.
• The current Swiss EPD implementation does not support the proposed appointment scheduling process.

Conclusions:

• A standardized approach to appointment scheduling is crucial for improving healthcare efficiency.
• The proposed FHIR-based solution offers a foundation for interoperable appointment data exchange.
• Integration of profiles like IHE Care Services Discovery (CSD) may enhance compatibility with the Swiss EPD.