Intermediation: a new concept for medical data exchanges

With the development of the Information and Communication Technologies, the exchanges of data between Healthcare Professionals are modified. Hospitals and Private Clinics are installing their Hospital Information Systems, while the General Practitioners are computing their patients records. Therefore the environment is suitable for the installation and diffusion of telematics services allowing better exchanges of information between the physicians of a geographical sector. The Intermediation platform was developed to provide an asynchronous n to n communication. It ensures several functions such as: movements of the patients (in/out/inside) the hospital, management and mailing of letters and reports, specific information about the treatments or data concerning the hospital structure. On the other hand, the G.P.s can send medical records to their hospital correspondents. This platform has been used in the town of Armentieres in the city of Lille (North of France). It is currently routinely used to accelerate and secure data exchanges between all the physicians working in this area.