Providing longitudinal health care information with the new German Health Card--a pilot system to track patient pathways.

The paper describes an application system that employs the new German Health Card to provide a technical solution for tracking patient pathways. The aim is to improve the flow and availability of health care information. We used standard software components and technologies in order to facilitate interoperability with multiple system platforms and allow for customizing as the specification process for the German Health Card is not yet completed. Every health care provider contact is recorded on the card and associated medical documents are stored in a central database and can be retrieved via Web Services running on a central application server. The patient pathway can thus be chronologically tracked by the clinician and relevant longitudinal information is made accessible quickly. Our system for tracking patient pathways with the new German Health Card can be regarded as a first example of its great future potential.