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HCN has under development a suite of products designed to create a secure
communications channel between GP practices and a range of service providers,
including specialists and allied health professionals.
The HCN Secure Communications Suite (SCS) has been designed to ensure the
privacy and confidentiality of clinical information whilst being simple and
easy to use by all doctors and staff at a practice.
Security of the SCS is ensured through the 128-bit SSL (Secure Socket Layer) protocol,
the same type of secure connection used for Internet-banking. In addition, optional encryption
using PKI certificates provided by HeSA (Health eSignature Authority) provides an additional
layer of privacy and confidentiality for those who wish to use it.
The SCS is based on the latest technologies, being built on the Microsoft .NET platform and
using Web Services technology to support the distributed nature of the system over the Internet
using standard protocols (SOAP over HTTP). Unlike email-based systems, the SCS is a closed network
which enables reliable message tracking and avoids the issues associated with email, especially viruses and spam.
When complete, the SCS will boast seamless integration with existing software used by practices,
including but not limited to, HCN's own product set, including Medical Director and Blue Chip.
It can also be used on a stand-alone basis.
The SCS will be released in phases, with the first module (AutoReport) designed to enable the
secure transmission of documents from specialists and allied health providers to general practitioners.
Subsequent phases will include a module that allows electronic referrals created using Medical Director
to be transmitted securely to specialists using the SCS.
Autoreport
AutoReport is phase 1 of the SCS and has been developed specifically to enable specialist
AutoReport
AutoReport is a simple way for GPs to receive electronic reports from specialists and others securely over the Internet.
Reports sent using AutoReport can be easily imported into Medical Director in the same way as pathology results.
AutoReport allows you to send and receive reports in RTF format (such as those created
by Medical Director, Blue Chip or Microsoft Word) in a format that Medical Director will
recognize and import into the relevant patient record.
For the report sender, AutoReport will increase efficiency and reduce costs as reports sent via AutoReport will no longer need to be printed and posted/faxed to the recipient(s).
For the report recipient, AutoReport will save the practice time and money as reports received through AutoReport will no longer need to be scanned into Medical Director.
Electronic Referrals
Phase 2 of the HCN SCS will be a module that enables Electronic Referrals to be digitally signed and sent securely directly out of the Medical Director letterwriter.
These referrals will be able to be imported directly into the software used by the recipient of the referral. Initially this will be enabled in Blue Chip, however, it is expected that other packages will also be able to do this as the referral will be created in the open standard HL7 format.
The Electronic Referral module is not expected to be available until late 2005 or early 2006 and will be available only to users of Medical Director 3.
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