Maastricht UMC+ and Uniklinik RWTH Aachen

Maastricht UMC+ and Uniklinik RWTH Aachen in Germany are actively working together to facilitate liver transplants. Dutch patients can receive a liver transplant at Uniklinik RWTH Aachen, while preliminary tests and follow-up are done at Maastricht UMC+. Every year, Maastricht UMC+ and Uniklinik RWTH Aachen exchange relevant patient data for about 40 Dutch patients. Until recently, this was done via physical means of communication such as CDs.

Both parties expressed the wish to switch to electronic data exchange so they would no longer be dependent on physical transfer, the data would not have to be processed manually again in Aachen and no new CDs would need to be burnt for each meeting. To achieve this, the two organisations joined Nictiz in the Border Region Project to create an outline of the current situation and of the preferred situation and to draft an action plan.

And they were successful. Since 17 March 2021, radiology images are sent from Maastricht via the Twiin portal to the Westdeutsche Teleradiologie Verbund. The hospital in Aachen isconnected to this portal and can so retrieve the Maastricht images that are needed for the multidisciplinary meetings for liver transplants. A great result of secure and efficient electronic cross-border data exchange.