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Methods Inf Med 2014; 53(02): 73-81
DOI: 10.3414/ME13-02-0003
Focus Theme – Original Articles
Schattauer GmbH

The Lower Saxony Bank of Health[*]

Rationale, Principles, Services, Organization and Architectural Framework
M. Plischke
1   The Lower Saxony Bank of Health, Braunschweig (LSBH), Germany
,
M. Wagner
1   The Lower Saxony Bank of Health, Braunschweig (LSBH), Germany
,
B. Haarbrandt
2   Peter L. Reichertz Institute for Medical Informatics, University of Braunschweig – Institute of Technology and Hannover Medical School, Braunschweig, Germany
,
M. Rochon
1   The Lower Saxony Bank of Health, Braunschweig (LSBH), Germany
,
J. Schwartze
2   Peter L. Reichertz Institute for Medical Informatics, University of Braunschweig – Institute of Technology and Hannover Medical School, Braunschweig, Germany
,
E. Tute
2   Peter L. Reichertz Institute for Medical Informatics, University of Braunschweig – Institute of Technology and Hannover Medical School, Braunschweig, Germany
,
T. Bartkiewicz
3   Braunschweig Medical Center (Klinikum Braunschweig), Braunschweig, Germany
,
T. Kleinschmidt
4   Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians Lower Saxony, Hannover, Germany
,
C. Seidel
3   Braunschweig Medical Center (Klinikum Braunschweig), Braunschweig, Germany
,
H. Schüttig
3   Braunschweig Medical Center (Klinikum Braunschweig), Braunschweig, Germany
,
R. Haux
2   Peter L. Reichertz Institute for Medical Informatics, University of Braunschweig – Institute of Technology and Hannover Medical School, Braunschweig, Germany
› Author Affiliations
Further Information

Publication History

received: 19 April 2013

accepted: 09 February 2013

Publication Date:
20 January 2018 (online)

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Summary

Introduction: This article is part of a Focus Theme of Methods of Information in Medicine on Health Record Banking.

Background: Poor communication of health care information between health care providers (HCP) is still a major problem. One recent approach is the concept of Health Record Banking.

Objectives: With this report we want to introduce the Lower Saxony Bank of Health (LSBH) to the international community. The main objective of this paper is to report and explain: 1) why this organization has been founded, 2) which basic principles have been set, 3) which services will be provided, 4) which type of organization has been chosen, and 5) which architectural framework has been selected.

Methods: To report and discuss how we plan to achieve the intended objectives.

Results: The LSBH was founded as an entrepreneurial company, regarding itself as a neutral third-party information broker. The bank does not store medical documents on its central servers but offers a document registry with links to documents stored at participating health care providers. Subject to valid patient consent, the LSBH grants access to these documents to authorized health care providers. To implement our services, we chose the established technical frameworks of the Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE) initiative using cross-enterprise document sharing (XDS).

Conclusions: Different approaches to establish health information exchange (HIE) are in early stages and some have failed in the past. Health Record Banking can address major challenges described in the literature about HIE. The future will show if our provider-sponsored business model is sustainable. After reaching a stable network, we intend to add additional HCPs, e.g., care homes or ambulance services, to the network.

Keywords

eHealth - electronic health record - health information exchange - health record bank - IHE XDS

* Supplementary material published on our web-site www.methods-online.com