MiHUB (Medical Informatics Hub)
Background
The Medical Informatics Hub (MiHUB) continues the work of its predecessor project, MiHUBx (Medical Informatics Hub in Saxony). MiHUBx was one of six regional hubs for digital medical infrastructure in Germany (Digital Progress Hubs for Health), tasked with extending the pioneering work of the Medical Informatics Initiative (MII) from university hospitals into the broader healthcare system—that is, to also include primary care practices, private specialist practices, regional hospitals, and rehabilitation and long-term care facilities. The project is continuing into a second funding phase: The hub is expanding beyond Saxony in collaboration with the Medical University of Lausitz – Carl Thiem, and instead of focusing on three application cases that are thematically far apart, MiHUB is concentrating on a single medical field—oncology, specifically lung cancer—and, within that field, on an integrated care pathway.
Objective
The overarching goal of MiHUB is to develop a cross-sector data space and a service-oriented infrastructure to improve collaboration among the various stakeholders in the healthcare system along the entire treatment pathway. The clinical focus is on lung cancer care, where primary care physicians, private practice specialists, regional hospitals, and university cancer centers must work closely together. The focus is on three interrelated use cases:
- Prevention and Lung Cancer Screening
- Collaborative cancer care, including palliative care
- Aftercare and long-term survivors
The goal is to create a digital space that
- supports patients throughout their entire treatment journey and encourages their active participation,
- harnesses data and knowledge from non-university care for research and clinical practice,
- enables researchers studying complex clinical conditions to quickly access the data necessary for their studies, and
- provides clinicians with a comprehensive view of their patients across sectoral and institutional boundaries.
Together with the other FortschrittsHubs, MiHUB is also working on the cross-hub use case “Digital Support for Complex Patient Journeys,” thereby helping to advance digitalization in medicine and ensure the region’s future viability and competitiveness.
Our Role in the Project
Cross-Specialty Patient Pathways in Lung Cancer Care
A seamless care pathway can only be supported digitally if it has been precisely described in advance. We are therefore developing an integrated patient pathway that brings together early detection, treatment, follow-up care, palliative care, and primary care provided by family physicians. This is based on clinical guidelines and standard procedures from the participating institutions; the modeling is carried out using extended BPMN and is subsequently converted into a machine-readable artifact based on HL7 FHIR and established terminologies such as SNOMED CT, LOINC, and ICD. This results in a computer-interpretable patient pathway that is semantically interoperable and compatible with national and European initiatives. In addition, we analyze the existing information system landscape along the pathway and identify gaps, vulnerabilities, and reusable components. The patient pathway forms the technical foundation for all further work within the hub.
Patient Portal and Patient Integration Along the Care Pathway
The patient portal developed by our research group in MiHUBx is being expanded in MiHUB along the entire care pathway—and made available for reuse by the other FortschrittsHubs, which in turn contribute their own modules. We are responsible for requirements analysis and architecture, the specification of technical interfaces in accordance with national and international standards (gematik ISiK, KBV MIO, MII core dataset, EHDS), the connection to the cross-sector data repository, and compliance management—particularly with regard to medical device law.
In terms of content, we build on the networking platform from the first funding phase: Patients receive clearly presented information on test results and upcoming appointments, can provide their own details regarding quality of life and side effects, and continue to receive support during follow-up care. As a shared component of the hub, we are also developing a patient pathway service that visualizes the modeled pathway for patients and healthcare providers and maps the current status of treatment within it.
Project Participants
TUD Dresden University of Technology
- Center for Medical Informatics (ZMI) – Carl Gustav Carus Faculty of Medicine (Consortium Leader)
- Data Integration Center and Trust Agency – Carl Gustav Carus Faculty of Medicine
- School of Medicine with the SaxoN Research Practice Network – Carl Gustav Carus Faculty of Medicine
- National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT/UCC) – Carl Gustav Carus Faculty of Medicine
- Usability & Technology Acceptance Research Group – Carl Gustav Carus Faculty of Medicine
- Digital Health Research Group – Faculty of Business and Economics
Lausitz Medical University – Carl Thiem (Cottbus)
- Data Integration Center
- Department of Hematology, Oncology, Nephrology, Diabetology, and Pulmonology
Chemnitz Hospital gGmbH
- Data Integration Center, School of Medicine
- Department of Internal Medicine IV
- Institute of Radiology and Neuroradiology
Mittweida University of Applied Sciences
- Faculty of Applied Computer and Life Sciences
Contact Person
Gefördert durch das BMFTR