Background
The Southern Ostrobothnian health care district and the primary care services of seven municipalities in the region integrated their operations at the beginning of 2009. The joint operational area of the municipalities of Halsua, Kannus, Kaustinen, Lestijärvi, Perho, Toholampi and Veteli constitutes a primary care services utility as part of the Central Ostrobothnian secondary care and primary care services municipality federation. Customers can engage with and obtain services in the entire joint operational area. Joint on-call services have been centralised in the Kokkola central hospital. The new entity features in the everyday lives of almost 500 employees and 22,500 residents.

Challenges
The challenge is to create an overall picture of the patient and their treatment process in order to ensure proper and high-quality care regardless of the service location, as well as to enhance the operations of the federation of municipalities.

Solution
The functional rationality of the region’s service chains is guaranteed using a shared information solution, the basis for which is the Effica Central Solution, which has been in use at the Central Ostrobothnian central hospital for about ten years, and to which the information of the primary care services were added to at the beginning of the year. The implementation, carried out within a tight schedule, was enabled by a report carried out prior to establishing the federation, dealing with the regional functionality of the patient information systems of the Central Ostrobothnian health care district when the organisation changes. The report described the current situation of the region’s patient information systems in regard to the essential areas, as well as the different alternatives and solutions for the changes introduced by the organisational reform.

Benefits
Senior Chief Physician Sakari Telimaa is satisfied with the solution reached with a shared maintainer of the register. “Our model implements the concept that the health care districts aim at. The processes can be reviewed from the viewpoint of the efficiency of patient care, instead of the viewpoint of one organisation only. As a result of good, shared tools, the care chains can be further developed to become even more seamless,” Telimaa points out.

Acting as a federation makes it easier to carry out decisions. According to primary care services Director Tarja Oikarinen-Nybacka, the shared information solution will from now on make it easier to plan and allocate services. “The possibilities for improving the service chain can be felt. It will now be considerably easier to put good ideas and operating methods into practice,” Oikarinen-Nybacka says.

According to Telimaa, the benefits are particularly emphasised in shared on-call services and care consulting. “The physician on call is able to delve deep into the patient files in order to find out the patient’s background. The information on research conducted and measures taken in the field of primary care make the operations of on-call services quicker and easier. On the other hand, health care centre physicians can immediately view studies carried out in the field of secondary care - mutual consultation will certainly become more active,” Telimaa assesses.

For further information, please contact: Jarkko Krannila, tel. +358 400 586 162
firstname.lastname@tieto.com, info.healthcare@tieto.com

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