Brazilian Federal District Government Launches Healthcare Portal Project Based on Health Community Concept Uses TrakHealth Technology
Brazil—August 29 , 2007—The Brazilian Federal District Government has announced plans for a medical exam portal that will benefit the population and the entire health community network of the region. This initiative is part of the Health Community project responsible for delivering IT solutions and fully integrating the entire healthcare network. A key element of the medical exam portal is the TrakCare solution from TrakHealth.
TrakHealth is a multinational company specializing in hospital and clinical lab management information systems. The TrakCare system includes capabilities ranging from scheduling appointments at basic healthcare units to the complete management of any community patient data.
The official opening ceremony was held on August 29th, at Palácio do Buriti, in the presence of Federal District Governor José Roberto Arruda, Vice Governor Paulo Octávio, Secretary of Health José Geraldo Maciel and his secretariat, hospital directors, plus physicians, healthcare associations, and special guests.
Annually, approximately 8.2 million medical exams are carried out in the Federal District. Considering only the units that are already part of the portal – including Base Hospital, North Wing Regional Hospital, South Wing Regional Hospital, Gama Regional Hospital, Taguatinga Regional Hospital, Samambaia Regional Hospital, and the Central Laboratory – the total number of exams is 4.7 million.
According to State Department of Health (SES, Secretaria de Estado de Saúde) statistics, 20% of exam results are lost by public service patients before their actual medical appointment, resulting in new requests for the same exams. Additionally, statistics indicate that when these exams are repeated, 30% are lost again. The portal promises to cut these rates to zero once the entire system is computerized and the user and/or health provider will be able to access, at any moment and in real time, the patient’s record and previous exams.
With the medical exam portal, the waste involved in repeating exams will be reduced to approximately 30% of current levels, which is equivalent to almost R$ 18 million per year, once the project is complete. By the end of this year, this drop will represent R$ 10.5 million. Almost 2.1 million users will benefit from this technological solution.
The system has multiple advantages, such as: incorporation of results into an Electronic Patient Record (PEP, Prontuário Eletrônico do Paciente), secure and confidential access to data via the Web, and preservation of patients’ privacy by not allowing the access to STD and cancer test results.
“Searches can be performed according to patient, exam, and requestor. The navigation is highly friendly and intuitive, which makes it very easy and fast for any patient or professional to search for required information in the portal,†explains Dr. João Luiz Arantes de Freitas, Subsecretary of SUPRAC/SES for Scheduling, Regulation, Assessment and Control. The integration of the Portal to PEPs will ensure more quality and security for any information generated by the SES-DF lab network, and also reduce the waste involved in duplicating exams. The focus lies on delivering computer solutions for key activities, providing return on investment in a quick and consistent manner.
According to TrakHealth Country Manger in Brazil, Fernando Vogt, the project is closely aligned with the worldwide investment carried out by the company in Community Health Network concepts. By providing information technology and integrating units of a specific region, you can control all the generation, maintenance, and distribution of clinical, health, and administrative information of a community – whether it’s a city, a state, or even a country. “It consists of combining administrative, demographic, and clinical patient data, enabling the integrated management of a specific health service community,†explains Vogt.
To support these solutions, TrakHealth relies on technology from InterSystems, an innovation-driven company since its foundation. The company has a high-performance object database and application development environment. They also provide a unique platform for integration, enabling the creation of health community networks in a quick and flexible way, while aiming at preserving existing investments. Another innovative InterSystems product is HealthShare, a technological platform that allows large-scale multi-organizational sharing of health information.