Secure Exchange of Patient Data in Hospital – Compliance with Data Protection Requirements

With its great commitment to quality in medicine and to quality care the hospital in Düren carries a special responsibility for caring about peoples‘ health in an region of around 6,500 square kilometres. Approximately 20,000 inpatient and 50,000 ambulant patients trust in the leading healthcare provider between Cologne and Aachen and between Eifel and Lower Rhine in the West of Germany.

In the specialty departments comprehensive care is provided to the highest level around the clock, they are known for human care and innovative technology. The municipal funding body with the city and the county of Düren as its partners offers the ideal conditions.

The treatment of tumors, diseases of the cardiovascular system, the digestive and metabolic organs and the musculoskeletal system are the focal points of the medical institution.

The high demand for the best possible care of the patients is reflected in the numerous awards received by the Düren hospital. The departments are regularly checked by external experts. Seals of quality are held by the colon cancer, breast cancer, trauma and diabetes centers.

The hospital has also been awarded the Gold Seal of the „Campaign Clean Hands“. With this award, the clinic was certified to meet the most demanding criteria in terms of employee training and application of hand disinfection. The hospital is one of only 35 of the almost 2,000 German
clinics that are allowed to carry the gold seal.

While the transmission of germs in the hospital is undesirable, the transfer of data should be safe and reliable. Staff at the hospital exchanges numerous items of sensitive patient data every day. This personal data must be exchanged with health insurances, medical practices and other clinics. In addition, large files are regularly sent to external partners. Their traditional email soon reached its limits.

Large amounts of data were routinely burned on CDs or stored on USB sticks and then sent off. Confidential data often had to be sent by post or fax. That was awkward and costly. In addition, the communication partner receiving the documents exclusively in analog form and could not simply process them digitally.

It was important for the IT experts at the Düren hospital to find a solution that worked for all users without installing any additional software. Many data exchange solutions at the time were Java based at the client, and Cryptshare was one of the few exceptions that worked with any browser without the need for additional add-ons or software.

In addition, the operation for sender and receiver needed to be very easy. The Cryptshare Cryptshare Outlook add-in finally convinced the experts. Even if the file is too big for a common email, it can now be sent automatically with the help of a simple Cryptshare policy. The user does not have to worry about anything. A click on “submit” is enough and the Cryptshare add-in sends the email with attachment in the background. Simple and safe.