COTS implementation of the e-Referral Pattern

If we accept that e-Referral follows the basic atomic pattern of [trusted] producer - [unsecured] channel - [trusted] consumer then we can apply the structure to just about any platform and any transmission mechanism. In a previous post I suggested that we could use Word and Outlook to implement the e-Referral pattern so what does this mean in terms of IT risk profile and coding development.

Simply put, the majority of functionality required to implement this pattern already exists in the products, so what we are actually doing in applying security and privacy and authentication to deliver the solution. the key thing to do is make sure - as always - that we do not interfere with the clinician-patient interaction process too much. In other words the ease and seamless use is important.

From my perspective, if I was a doctor I would not want to have to do any complex "click this, now go here and click that the off to here and select that and then click this and then...." and so on... This is what I want to do:

The Dr (or assigned representative) opens word and types document to an industry template

When document is ready an icon is pressed

 

Receiver sees an email - with some indicator

Double Clicks email

 

MS Word document opens

 

From an architectural flow perspective the flow looks like this:

In the next blog we will look at the Roles and responsibilities of the actors involved in this little play...