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Integrating a health IC card system into a hospital information system
T S Chen1, C M Chao, C C Cheng
1Department of Engineering Science, National Cheng Kung University, University Road, Tainan, Taiwan.
Insights
This study demonstrates the feasibility of integrating a health IC card system with a hospital information system, offering a cost-effective solution for managing national healthcare data.
Area of Science:
- Health Informatics
- Information Systems Management
- Medical Technology
Background:
- The National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) Hospital Information System (NCKU-HIS) manages patient registration, billing, prescriptions, and test results.
- Integrating a health IC card system into NCKU-HIS was explored to improve data quality and accessibility for stakeholders.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess the feasibility of integrating a health IC card system with an existing hospital information system.
- To evaluate the effectiveness of health IC cards as an alternative to large, centralized national healthcare information systems.
Main Methods:
- The experiment involved linking a health IC card system into the NCKU-HIS, utilizing client/server networks and mainframe TANDEM systems.
- Interfaces were developed for two-way data and program transfer, considering protocols like Health Level Seven (HL/7).
Main Results:
- The health IC card system proved feasible, operating across different machines and computing environments.
- The system was well-accepted by users, particularly patients, and demonstrated suitability for healthcare insurance management.
Conclusions:
- Health IC cards offer a practical and cost-effective alternative for managing national healthcare information compared to large, centralized systems.
- The successful integration highlights the potential for improved data quality and accessibility in healthcare.
Abstract:
As an experiment, a health IC card has been linked into the hospital information system of the National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) Hospital. The NCKU Hospital Information System (NCKU-HIS) services all the procedures for patient registration, billing, prescriptions, and the processing and storing of test results. The health IC card system provides good quality information to the doctors, the hospital, the patients, and the insurance organizations. For a fully comprehensive system, it is essential to integrate the health IC card system into the operational NCKU-HIS, the communication protocols, and the national insurance procedures. The experiment was designed to see if the development of such a system was feasible, and the results have been impressive. It has proved possible to operate the health IC card system, linking into different machines under different computing environments. A single computer system to store all the data of all the patients and to process all the nation's healthcare information would require almost unlimited mainframe processing power and unlimited storage. It would be very difficult to construct such a large computerized information system. All the hospitals would be required to use the same data format to process their information, and a large national healthcare network would have to be built, making the collection and storage of personal medical information very difficult and probably inefficient and unsatisfactory. Even if it was possible, it would be a very costly and time-consuming task. An IC card is cheap and easy to use, and offers an alternative solution to the problem of handling the nation's healthcare information. The original healthcare IC card experiment (started in 1990) was limited to the NCKU Hospital and the Taiwan Government Employees' Clinic. The experimental system was designed to be fully integrated into the NCKU-HIS and has been widely accepted by the users, especially the IC card-holding patients. It is also well-suited to the management of healthcare insurance. An expanded healthcare IC card system was implemented from the end of 1993 and covers six clinics and six hospitals in Penghu County. The operation of the registration and billing subsystems are supported by PC workstations in a client/server network as these subsystems are used very frequently. Some of the other computerized functions in the NCKU-HIS are supported by the mainframe TANDEM computer system. The interfaces with the communication protocols and application software provide for the effective two-way transfer of data and programs. For future use, consideration is being given to the employment of the Health Level Seven (HL/7) protocol for electronic data interchange. National standards such as Chinese information processing, the use of standard codes, the authorization of the content of the IC card, and communication protocols are already incorporated in the system.