The Concept
In 2022, the term Telemonitoring Prescription was introduced to treat telemonitoring as a standard referral process. Healthcare professionals (HCPs) can now prescribe patient monitoring, expecting the Telemonitoring Provider to send back a detailed report with all relevant information.
Why Was This Needed?
Previously, there was minimal guidance for Telemonitoring Providers and Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems. This lack of direction hindered innovation and slowed the adoption of telemonitoring, despite its clear benefits for patients.
Telemonitoring Providers had to individually negotiate integrations with each hospital’s IT department, resulting in inconsistent and labor-intensive setups. EHR systems faced numerous requests from various providers, leading to tough prioritization decisions. With multiple standards in healthcare (e.g., FHIR, HL7, OpenEHR, OMOP), choosing the right one for each situation was complex. Additionally, issues around patient and HCP authentication, data sharing, and adherence to FAIR principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) needed resolution.
Addressing Key
Challenges
- Integration with health hubs, digital vaults, and solid pods.
- Adoption of Caring Technology Principles.
- Alignment with European projects like Label2Enable.
- Moving from theoretical frameworks to practical applications.
- Standardizing Data Processing Agreements (DPAs) and facilitating Data Protection Officers (DPOs) across hospitals.
Telemonitoring Prescription aims to streamline these processes.
The Pillars
To facilitate integration, the effort is divided into three pillars, each with a specific focus.
Pillar 1
Context Integration
This pillar ensures that the relevant patient context from the EHR is available to the Telemonitoring Provider for successful monitoring.
Telemonitoring Portal
A key component of Context Integration is the Telemonitoring Portal. Integrated into EHR systems, this portal helps HCPs select the appropriate Telemonitoring Provider and add necessary context during the prescription process.
Pillar 2
Authentication
Authentication can be challenging for Telemonitoring Providers. This pillar provides guidance on implementing smooth and effective authentication processes in alignment with the eHealth Platform, reducing approval wait times.
Pillar 3
Outcome Integration
This pillar focuses on bringing data back to HCPs and patients using FAIR principles. These principles ensure health data is Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable.
Telemonitoring Hub
To achieve FAIR data practices, the Telemonitoring Hub acts as a gateway for providers to deliver data back to EHR systems across multiple layers:
The basic, universally readable format supported by all EHR systems and easily shareable through existing health infrastructure.
FHIR
A structured and parseable data layer validated for consistency by the HL7 workgroup.
Dashboards
For complex care paths not covered by EHR dashboarding, these can be integrated and shared within the EHR.
APIs
Provides access to raw data available at the Telemonitoring Provider’s end, facilitating comprehensive data sharing with hospitals or prescribers.
Embracing Telemonitoring
Prescription
By addressing these critical areas, Telemonitoring Prescription transforms telemonitoring from a fragmented, effort-intensive process into a streamlined, efficient part of healthcare, ensuring better outcomes for patients and a more manageable workload for providers.