Requirements and Technical Design for Online Patient Referral System

Abstract

Upon patients being referred between healthcare facilities, the medical historical data transfer becomes a crucial process. The requirement for the transfer including correctness, completeness, and security. In Thailand, traditionally patients are required to physically carry their printed-out medical documents when they are referred to another hospital. This process is troublesome and prone to human error. Electronic medical record (EMR) transfer is a direct answer to this problem. However, the biggest challenge of developing the referral data transfer system comes from the fact that hospitals are using different EMR systems. Another cause is hospitals in Thailand operate under different authorities such as the Ministry of Health or Ministry of Higher Education. Each has its data protection and data transfer policies. In this paper to address these issues, we propose a technical design for an online patient referral system. The platform can manage a list of hospitals and their treatment capacities. When physicians need to refer a patient, they can search and locate nearby hospitals with the patient’s specific needs. Required modules for the system will be presented. We present the possibility of implementing the system based on blockchain technology for secure data transfer across providers.