Cost efficiency analysis for XDS in the northern Netherlands

Lugtenberg, Erik (2014) Cost efficiency analysis for XDS in the northern Netherlands. thesis, Other studies (UMCG).

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Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this study was to investigate how XDS can solve the issues with the current method of sharing medical images between hospitals. This study was initiated by the Radiology Department of the UMCG. Before this study a clear overview of the current sharing process was absent. This also caused the unclear situation about the costs and security of the current method. XDS is a standard developed by the IHE, which is an organization to improve the IT in healthcare for users and suppliers. XDS is a standard to share images between healthcare organizations in a certain region. Methods To visualize the current image sharing method, observations and a questionnaire were conducted. The observations served as a starting point for the questionnaire. Therefore the observations were conducted without any prescriptions or guidelines. After some observations the main steps in the process were clear, but at the same time the differences in the process between departments in the UMCG became clear. This was an extra motivation to conduct a questionnaire. The questionnaire, consisting out of 38 questions, was send to all employees who imported images from September 2012 until October 2013. Another part of the method was literature research. A lot of research was already done and next to this, due the regulations in the healthcare industry much information can be found on government or government associated organizations websites. The UMCG preferred and IHE XDS based system, by doing this the direction for a solution was already given. IHE XDS provided a lot of information on their website as well. Results regarding the amount of CD’s and images were extracted from the database which is currently in use for uploading images from CD’s. To wrap up, the cost part is described quantitatively and the process and security parts are described qualitatively. Results According to the reports from the database, the amount of received images increased from 1.67 million in 2006 to 8.89 million in 2012. When this trend will continue, the amount of images will increase to 28.06 million in 2016. The results of the questionnaire and observations were remarkable, though not surprising. Major differences were the storage time, shipment method and method of destroying the received CD’s. Some employees are not informed about information they might need to know. The method of shipment, for example, is 55% mail including 36% shipped by regular mail without insurance or such. This is one of the highest security issues. When this is expressed in absolute numbers, this affects in 2006 0.6 million and 3.2 million images in 2012. XDS has been suggested as a good replacement which will be able to solve issues with security, speed and costs. Just the shipment of regular mail can take up to 4 or 5 day while XDS can transport images in a few seconds to minutes. In 2013 XDS would not have been profitable to implement, but with 15.3 million image received, XDS at Stichting GERRIT can be profitable for the UMCG which will be achieved in 2014. Implementing XDS in the northern part of the Netherlands is currently under development by Stichting GERRIT. With measures as requiring username and password and using secured connections, the security can also be improved. However, XDS cannot solve all the issues with security in the way Stichting GERRIT is offering. Conclusion According to this study it appeared that XDS can solve a lot of issues with sharing images at the UMCG. The process of sharing images itself will be executed more identically, the speed of sharing will be much higher, security will be improved and according to the increase of the images over the past years, XDS can be more profitable than the current method of sharing images. Therefore it is recommended that the UMCG should implement XDS. However, some issues with security will still remain when XDS would be implemented in the shape Stichting GERRIT is offering.

Item Type:	Thesis (Thesis)
Supervisor name:	Ooijen van, P.M.A.
Supervisor name:	Bruggink, H.C.M.
Faculty:	Hanze University Groningen
Institute:	Instituut voor Financieel Economisch Management
Keywords:	Image sharing, XDS, Medical Imaging, Information security
Date Deposited:	25 Jun 2020 10:53
Last Modified:	25 Jun 2020 10:53
URI:	https://umcg.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/1431

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