Supporting Special-Purpose Health Care Models via Web Interfaces

The potential of the World Wide Web, via both the Internet and intranets, to facilitate the development of clinical information systems has been evident for some time. Most Web-based clinical workstation interfaces, however, merely provide a loose collection of access channels. There are numerous examples of systems for access to either patient data or clinical guidelines, but only isolated cases where clinical decision support is presented integrally with the process of patient care, in particular, in the form of active alerts and reminders based on patient data. Moreover, pressures in the health industry are increasing the need for doctors to practice in accordance with "best practice" guidelines and often to operate under novel healthcare arrangements. We present the Care Plan On-Line (CPOL) system, which provides intranet-based support for the South Australia HealthPlus "Coordinated Care" model for chronic disease management. We describe the interface design rationale of CPOL and its implementation framework, which is flexible and broadly applicable to support new healthcare models over intranets or the Internet.