The result is an environment that combines powerful security with perfect exchange facilities for documents and data.
Privacy of patients is a key issue in healthcare. They must be able to rely on it that their information remains behind closed doors. GGZ Meerkanten (Geestelijke Gezondheidszorg/Mental Healthcare) also has ensuring privacy as their top priority. When introducing the Electronic Healthcare File (Elektronisch Zorgdossier, EZD) powerful security is therefore a prerequisite. To realise this, GGZ Meerkanten uses IBM Lotus Notes/Domino and Office applications for e-mail communication and office automation. IBM Business Partner Inter Access supplied and implemented the solution.
GGZ Meerkanten in Ermelo provides clinical, ambulant and part-time care to people from the Flevo-Veluwe area. Meerkanten provides diagnostics, treatment and guidance to people with serious psychosocial and psychiatric problems and to clients with addiction problems. The GGZ organisation operates from 22 locations in twelve places in the area in order to help people close to their homes. Funding comes from the AWBZ, the Algemene Wet Bijzondere Ziektekosten (General Legislation on Special Medical Expenses).
“Before, we used Office Power. However, the office automation was dated and was no longer supported by the supplier,” states Wim Karkdijk, head of organisation and information services of GGZ Meerkanten. “We started looking for a powerful and extensive platform for e-mail communication which, apart from proper security, would also provide seamless integration with our office automation. We got into conversations with IBM, who advised Lotus Notes/Domino. Inter Access acted as project and implementation manager in this.”
“Privacy protection and continuity are essential to our services”, says Karkdijk. “In addition, the government aims at improving information exchange between healthcare institutes. Therefore, from our new environment we also had to be able to communicate via e-mail with external parties. It soon became clear that IBM Lotus Notes had the best papers. We combined this solution with an IBM Domino server. For office automation, we use Microsoft Office, mainly because other organisations we communicate with work with this package. This did not cause any problems, as IBM Lotus Notes/Domino integrates seamlessly with other suppliers’ products. The result is an environment that combines powerful security with perfect exchange facilities for documents and data. The environment is so stable that our continuity is ensured.”
With the IBM environment, GGZ Meerkanten benefits from, amongst other things, extensive functionality for user authorisation. Karkdijk: “Our system administrators can easily create users and allocate authorisations based on role and function. Previously, this was done in UNIX, which was a complex and time-consuming process. With this new environment, we also save time and money in this area. Furthermore, IBM Lotus Notes/Domino offers possibilities to work in groups and communicate quickly amongst them.”
When building and implementing the IBM Lotus Notes/Domino environment, Inter Access used the existing Electronic Care File (Elektronisch Zorgdossier/EZD) as a starting point. “This file forms the basis of our activities and therefore had to be leading,” says Karkdijk. “The office automation and information exchange facilities had to match the characteristics of the EZD. Moreover, we did not want our activities to be interrupted, of course. Inter Access assessed this properly and built a second IBM based environment next to our existing one. That way, our service was never at risk. We could just carry on with our treatments and for example, record these in the EZD. Once the new environment was tested and worked properly, we could migrate.”
The intranet is an important aspect in communication between organisation and employees. Objectives stated by GGZ Meerkanten regarding the intranet included the promotion of internal communication, making Meerkanten’s information sources more accessible and reducing the paper flow within the organisation. Karkdijk: “Based on our needs and the technological possibilities, Inter Access developed the intranet infrastructure and the basic functionality. The intranet contains, amongst others, a news page, a calendar, an internal telephone directory and a ‘small ads’ section where employees can sell and buy all sorts of things and ask for information. Furthermore, there is a search function enabling users to find documents throughout the entire intranet.” The intranet is a browser based, secure and scalable environment based on the Lotus Notes/Domino technology and the Inter Access Intranet framework, which is based on the Lotus Notes/Domino Content Management System Inter Access Quicknet.
GGZ Meerkanten is very content with the IBM Lotus Notes/Domino implementation by Inter Access. “You can say that the use of the IBM solution has greatly improved both internal and external communication with stakeholders. All this, with optimal security, so that we can ensure the privacy of patients’ information,” concludes Karkdijk.