Better care thanks to better information

Nictiz - the National IT Institute for Healthcare in the Netherlands - is the national coordination point and knowledge centre for IT and innovation in the healthcare sector.

The national switch point forms the core of electronic communications in the sector, which is managed by Nictiz. Any authorized healthcare practitioner can be connected to the switch point so that he or she can obtain the latest and most relevant information about a patient at any time, from anywhere in the Netherlands and in a simple, secure and reliable way.

In consultation with and at the request of the healthcare sector, Nictiz is continuously developing and refining national standards for electronic communications in healthcare. Furthermore, Nictiz supports the sector in developing functional IT solutions that can be used nationwide, and contributes to policy making on IT issues as they relate to healthcare on a national and international level.

More information

Health IT developments in the Netherlands
About the steps to be taken on health IT in the Netherlands, the role of Nictiz and views on crossing the national borders.

Applications
About applications such as an electronic medication record, an electronic locum record for general practioners and a clinical terminology.

Services
About the basic infrastructure, identification of the patient and healthcare provider, authorisation and open source software.

eHealth in the Netherlands, June 2008
This document provides insight into the agendas of the Electronic Health Record and IT in the Dutch healthcare sector for the coming years, including priorities and milestones. It is intended as a supplement to more detailed progress reports (in Dutch) by the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport submitted to the House of Representatives.

It was drawn up by Nictiz, the national IT institute for healthcare in the Netherlands, in consultation with the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport (VWS) in response to requests by the House of Representatives and the so-called IT & Innovation Platform.

Corporate profile Nictiz, March 2006
This brochure is about the national health IT developments in the Netherlands and the role of Nictiz within this process. You will find the following information:

• Why use IT in the healthcare sector?
• What facilities will be available?
• How will the scheme be implemented?
• What does the future hold?
• How is the Nictiz organization structured?

Health information developments in the Netherlands, Issue 8, Crossing the borders, May 2006
It is important to cross the national borders to see what is going on abroad, to co-operate, make a worldwide choice of technical and semantic standards to achieve interoperability. For this magazine Dutch and international authors have been asked to report on those issues.

Better care thanks to better information, June 2004
This report is about the steps to be taken from mid 2004 to 2006 to achieve three primary objectives towards which Nictiz is collaborating with parties in the field:

• to implement a national electronic medication record,
• to have an electronic out-of-hours locum information service for all out-of-hours medical posts operational, and
• to implement a fully electronic expense claims procedure.

Applications

The use of the Dutch national patient ID (BSN) in DICOM images and objects, march 2010

In the field of medical imaging DICOM is the prevailing file and communication standard, not for images only but also for e.g.  work list or region of interest objects.
To communicative these objects in a cross enterprise situation the use of the BSN is mandatory in the Netherlands.

The documents  linked to below explain where in the DICOM object the BSN should be recorded and how this should be achieved in a consistent way  in a cross enterprise setting in relation to the organisation's internal patient ID's.
The recommendation is a comprehensive document describing the required use of the BSN including examples of this use. The report contains extensive background information  on the possible options and the choices made, along with more and extended examples.
Both documents are in English.

The recommendation is the product of a joint Nictiz-IHE Netherlands expert working group.

Dutch national patient ID (BSN) & DICOM objects: Recommendation for use 
Dutch national patient ID (BSN) & DICOM objects: Final Report

The national electronic medication record in practice, Case study, March 2005
This document is primarily intended for general practitioners, hospital doctors and pharmacists, and public pharmacists who want to form a picture of the application of the national electronic medication record in practice.

National electronic locum record for general practioners, Case study, March 2005
This document is primarily intended for general practitioners working from a surgery and for staff in out-of-hours medical posts who want to form an idea of the use of national electronic locum files in practice.

Introduction of a clinical terminology in the Netherlands, September 2003 (SNOMED)
The main objective of this study was to answer the question 'Is it sensible to aim for a national introduction of the clinical terminology SNOMED CT, and if so for which sectors of healthcare?' The secondary questions were on alternatives and an estimate of costs involved.

Services

Design of the architecture basic infrastructure for healthcare, December 2002
This report describes the structure of, and interaction between, the facilities provided by the basic infrastructure, and the systems that are connected to it. The architecture needs to be sufficiently future-proof, and must accommodate the further growth towards an EPR and a broader use of ICT in Patient Care for such applications as telemedicine, logistics, financial/administrative, etc.

Frequently asked questions about the national switch point, June 2006
The national switch point forms the heart of the basic IT infrastructure for the Dutch healthcare sector. It is the "control tower" that enables and ensures the secure nationwide electronic exchange of patient information. This publication gives you more information about its services, the responsibilities of different parties, etc.

Reliable communication with the citizen service number, November 2005
This publication gives an introduction about the citizen service number (BSN), a unique identifying number for everyone who has relations with the government in the Netherlands. The Minister for Health, Welfare and Sport wants to introduce the BSN in the healthcare system in 2006. Parliament must give its approval.

Reliable communication with unique healthcare provider identification, November 2005
This publications gives an introduction about unique healthcare provider identification, a way of uniquely identifying and authenticating healthcare providers and institutions for the purposes of electronic communication.

Authorisation, a matter of trust, March 2006
There is broad consensus about the importance of the electronic interchange of patient data. But what impact will that have on privacy? How will identification and authorisation be arranged? And what does it all mean for healthcare practitioners and for patients? This brochure provides answers to a large number of questions, including some concerned with legislation and regulation.

Health ID management in Europe, March 2006
On behalf of ETHEL, the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport and Nictiz and in the framework of the i2-Health project an expert conference was held at Schiphol on health ID management and interoperability. The presentations and conclusions have been summarised in this publication.

Healthcare and open source software, September 2004
This report is the result of an exploratory study into the significance, the opportunities and the threats posed by open source software (OSS) in the field of healthcare.