Secure data access for external parties
With our comprehensive data access solution you can set up all kinds of projects to share data in HL7, FHIR or other format – quickly and safely. The solution is modular and grows as your projects increase.
Healthcare organisations generate vast amounts of data every day, and the need to make use of this data is rapidly growing – whether for patient care, improving efficiency, informing policy decisions, or conducting research. New laws and regulations are further driving this trend.
As a result, healthcare organisations are increasingly required to share data with external parties and systems. It goes without saying that this is a complex challenge. Working with patient data, which is inherently sensitive, means you must adhere to strict privacy regulations. Additionally, the various types of data involved each require a different approach and must be exchanged in a standardised manner.
Building on our existing interoperability and process automation solutions, we have developed a comprehensive data access solution that allows you to set up all kinds of projects quickly and safely, with less time and effort.
The components of this modular solution include: (1) a FHIR Station, (2) a FHIR Box repository, (3) a governance module and (4) a pseudonymisation component.
Discover FHINDR, our smart tool to visualise FHIR dataWith this intuitive point-and-click app, you don’t need in-depth technical knowledge to perform complex FHIR queries and visualise data from FHIR repositories in a clear and structured way. FHINDR not only allows you to query your Amaron repository, but works just as well with other FHIR repositories. And the best part? You can download FHINDR completely free of charge. |
The evolution to FHIR interoperability presents both tremendous opportunities and significant challenges. In this white paper, we use a real-world example to show how FHIR can be integrated into your healthcare organisation’s IT architecture and processes—and what pitfalls you may encounter along the way.
The goal of this data capability project is to make data on allergies and patient-related problems available across the Belgian healthcare institutions via HL7 Careset profiles. This will enable healthcare providers to check directly via the CoZo platform whether a patient has had an allergic reaction to certain drugs in the past.
This data capability project aims to consolidate and analyse data from the seven hospitals of the E17 Hospital Network in order to map out and improve the quality of care. Its goal is to develop a structural, secure benchmarking solution, starting with two use cases: Mother & Child data and HOST (Hospital Outbreak Support Teams) data.
Read this white paper and learn about:
Which application areas can Amaron solutions support?
We offer interfaces for a wide variety of applications:
| Application area | Type of patient data | Exchange with |
| Scientific research/ Clinical studies |
Anonymised data |
|
| Diagnostics (AI) and data exploitation | Pseudonymised data |
|
Making data (administrative and medical) centrally available to:
|
Relevant data by name |
|
| Communication with patients | Relevant data by name |
|
What is the difference between anonymised and pseudonymised data?
In the care sector, medical research relies on anonymous data. This data is also used as statistical input for developing healthcare policies. A typical example of this is the anonymised data that the Belgian healthcare institutions provide to Sciensano/Healthdata for epidemiological monitoring.
When you anonymise data, it is no longer possible to trace the person who is the source of the data. However, there is still some risk of identification. For example, it would not be difficult to use the date of birth of a 100-year-old patient to uncover their identity.
Combining two (or more) data sets may create some risk of identification. It is always good practice to carefully consider, in advance, which and how much data you will exchange, even if it is anonymised.
In certain situations, however, you may need to make data available to a third party, but then want to enable re-identification afterwards under strict conditions. Here, anonymisation is not an option.
One example could be radiology images that you have analysed in the cloud using an AI algorithm for triage or other purposes. Or an external algorithm that uses patient data to calculate which components are needed to perform a knee replacement. Or text and unstructured reports that you make available to a software application that processes and analyses the data in order to optimise care paths.
In order to share medical data safely and responsibly in such situations, you can pseudonymise it. This security measure involves deleting any personal data that can be traced back to the patient (name, date of birth, patient number, etc.) and/or replacing it. For example, you might replace date of birth with age, and municipality with region. The data is then linked to a code that can only be used in the hospital to identify the patient.
How does Amaron help hospitals to share data?
Amaron is the market leader and a trusted partner in Belgium in the field of connectivity between various subsystems within hospitals. For example, electronic patient records that retrieve information about patient movements and appointments from the hospital information system, or that exchange orders and results with laboratory information and medical imaging platforms etc. In the Netherlands and France too, more and more hospitals and service providers in the healthcare sector are seeing the advantages of Amaron.
EFFICIENT:
A single, centralised modular solution for all your projects.
CONTROL:
You are in control and can manage the entire process.
FAST:
New projects are easy and quick to set up, so you save a lot of time.
SECURE
You always have a clear picture of which data have been accessed when, and by whom. Patient privacy is respected at all times.
COMPLIANT
All steps taken in the governance process are documented and demonstrable.
FUTURE-PROOF
You can start small and grow the solution as your data access needs increase.
“Thanks to the E17 on FHIR project, we can explore how FHIR can be integrated into our data infrastructure and what opportunities it offers for both primary and secondary data use. This pilot project is enabling us to align the technical capabilities with practical needs.”
Lieselot Cool, Data Scientist, az groeninge Kortrijk
Nicky Van Der Vekens, Staff Officer to the CEO, Maria Middelares Ghent