3rd annual general meeting, held in Dortmund, highlights best practices for implementation of infrastructure and data sharing – plus milestones in Germany-wide standardisation

 

Semler_MII-JV 2019

Dortmund, 13.09.2019. “In a comparatively short time, the Medical Informatics Initiative (MII) has created the essential basis for digitally integrating routine clinical data from patient care across multiple sites – for better research and more targeted treatments,” stated Sebastian C. Semler, Executive Director of TMF – Technology, Methods, and Infrastructure for Networked Medical Research, and Head of the MII Coordination Office. Semler spoke at MII’s 3rd annual general meeting, held on 11 and 12 September following the annual meeting of the German Association for Medical Informatics, Biometry and Epidemiology (GMDS) in Dortmund. Around 150 medical and IT professionals and researchers from diverse disciplines met to exchange information, highlight milestones, and discuss upcoming challenges facing the initiative. The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) is providing approximately 160 million euros of funding through 2021.

In her welcoming address, Eva Nourney, who is a department head at BMBF, underscored: “The participants in the Medical Informatics Initiative perform their work with great expertise in order to advance the digital transformation of medicine.” She emphasised that it is important the initiative continues to coordinate closely with other German national digitisation projects, such as the Federal Government’s AI strategy and the National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI).

Semler and representatives from MII consortia summarised the initiative’s achievements over the past year. All German university hospitals have joined forces and established MII’s first data integration centres (DIC). The DICs integrate, standardise and process healthcare and research data locally at the respective university hospital; they also prepare the data for sharing across multiple sites. In addition, MII has defined a common Germany-wide core data set and internationally recognised standards for data sharing, and developed processes for data use.  Nationally harmonised patient consent (broad consent) template texts were created in cooperation with the science working group of German state-level data protection agencies and with the biobanks working group of the Association of Medical Ethics-Committees in Germany. A Central Application and Registration Office (ZARS) was established as a one-stop agency for researchers’ data requests. Furthermore, MII has also initiated dialogue on how patient participation should be structured.

A demonstration study was able to show that the technical and organisational data use concepts outlined by the Medical Informatics Initiative are essentially feasible – and that the data are, from a qualitative view, suitable for drawing conclusions. Data from 1.8 million patients from over 20 MII sites across Germany were analysed in the scope of the study. In the coming years, continued development of the DICs will be key to the successful implementation of the first use cases. A further challenge will be ongoing integration with organisational structures of the healthcare system, and with the newly created National Research Data Infrastructure.

MII’s DIFUTURE consortium is pursuing an important use case to improve treatments for multiple sclerosis, as explained by Dr Verena Hoffmann, Ludwig-Maximilians-University (LMU) Munich. The progression of MS is difficult to predict; consequently, patients should receive medication tailored to their needs at the earliest stage possible. To this end, the consortium is developing mathematical models to predict the success of various treatment options for individual patients. This analysis can help doctors determine which treatments hold the most promise. Clinical, imaging, genetic and other data are captured in a consistent way across all sites. Doctor’s letters are automatically generated on this basis – so medical professionals are already benefiting from concrete digital support tools and systems developed within the Medical Informatics Initiative.

In its cardiology use case, the HiGHmed consortium is seeking to improve the identification and treatment of high-risk patients with cardiovascular diseases. For example, as explained by Professor Otto Rienhoff, University Medical Center Göttingen, data on long-term progression of heart disease and previous treatments will be combined and analysed. This will, ideally, help doctors recognise high-risk patients. Should it prove successful, it will help action to be taken at an early stage – to counteract and prevent sudden critical deterioration of patients’ health.

Professor Melanie Börries, University of Freiburg, presented a MIRACUM consortium use case that explores how IT solutions can enhance clinical tumour boards. In tumour boards meetings, interdisciplinary teams comprising medical professionals and researchers discuss treatment options and arrive at corresponding decisions. Smart ways of visualising diverse data can support this decision-making process.

In its ASIC (Algorithmic Surveillance in Intensive Care) use case, the SMITH consortium aims to continuously analyse routine clinical data collected in intensive care units to automatically monitor patients’ conditions. This will enable faster diagnosis and interventions, explained Professor Markus Löffler, Leipzig University Medical Center. It will first be demonstrated by treating patients with acute lung failure (ARDS) as an example.  


 

Media Contact:

Sophie Haderer , Phone: +49 30 − 22 00 24 730, presse@medizininformatik-initiative.de

 

 

Background
 

The aim of the Medical Informatics Initiative (MII) is to enhance research and patient care through innovative IT solutions. These will enable the sharing and use of data from healthcare and from clinical and biomedical research across multiple entities and sites. The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) is investing a total of 160 million euros in the initiative through 2021. Within the scope of four consortia – DIFUTURE, HiGHmed, MIRACUM and SMITH – all German university hospitals and medical centres at over 30 locations are cooperating with research institutions, businesses, health insurers and patient representatives. Their mission is to enable the use of research findings to the direct benefit of patients. At the same time, priority is given to robust data protection and security.

The Berlin-based coordination office, operated by TMF (Technology, Methods and Infrastructure for Networked Medical Research) with MFT (German Association of Medical Faculties) and VUD (German Association of Academic Medical Centers), is responsible for managing cooperation within MII at national level.