Seamless Digital Case Forwarding between 116117 and 112
The concept of facilitating a seamless nationwide call forwarding system between control centers appears promising and is on the verge of becoming a reality.
The 116117 patient service number holds national relevance in Germany and is overseen by regional associations of panel doctors (KV) across different German states. This service occupies a pivotal role in the German healthcare landscape, catering to patients requiring medical assistance in non-life-threatening situations. However, there have been instances where life-threatening emergencies have been reported through the 116117 number. In such critical situations, it is imperative to swiftly and accurately inform the responsible emergency service control center, ensuring immediate on-site assistance.
To achieve this, custom interfaces were established between the Central Terminal (CT) and adjacent control centers, facilitating effective communication. However, these interfaces exhibit limitations when it comes to cross-border operations. Furthermore, integrating control center systems from unknown suppliers demands significant technical and administrative efforts from both sides, especially in regions transitioning to digital networking where traditional fax and telephone systems are being dismantled.
Addressing these shortcomings, the Central Institute of the Associations of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (CI) has initiated a project for interface standardization. In pursuit of this objective, CI has engaged the company Famedly to develop a vendor-independent, nationwide scalable interface for digital case exchange between 116117 and 112 control centers, leveraging CIMessenger technologies.
In the course of the project, a decision was made to utilize an existing specification for case exchange based on the Universal Control Room Interfaces (UCRI) interface established by PMeV (Professioneller Mobilfunk e. V.). Manufacturers now have the flexibility to employ UCRI data types natively with a matrix connector from Famedly or transmit and receive them directly without a connector via matrix.
The matrix functions as a decentralized messaging infrastructure with end-to-end encryption in the background. This open-source technology is already in use by public authorities and within the healthcare sector, solidifying its suitability for this purpose.
To ensure that all control centers participating in the matrix network remain accessible and known, a directory service has been established alongside the matrix network. Consequently, each participating control center can serve as both a sender and receiver without the need for system adjustments in case of participant changes.
To maintain adaptability for future use cases, the data transmitted via UCRI adheres to the FHIR standard internally within the matrix. FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources) is a globally recognized standard for healthcare data exchange, offering future potential in this context.
In addition to Famedly GmbH, which is spearheading the project from a technical standpoint, several prominent ELS software manufacturers are actively involved. As of the publication of this article, the establishment of a testing environment is underway, with plans to gradually integrate it into regular operations by the end of 2023.
If your control center is interested in participating in this forward-looking network for data exchange among control centers, please reach out to your designated contact at eurofunk.
