Routine Anonymized Data for Advanced Ambulatory Health Services Research, RADARplus

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Wolfgang Hoffmann; Professorin Dr. Eva Hummers; Professorin Dr. Dagmar Krefting, since 9/2022; Professor Dr. Ramin Yahyapour
• Subject Area: Medical Informatics and Medical Bioinformatics
• Term: from 2016 to 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 315084924

The overall aim of the RADAR project is to provide a framework and infrastructure to securely export and process electronic patient records (EPR) data from primary health care practices in a secure and manageable way as a first step towards a large German research data repository. The goal is to make representative, longitudinal de-identified patient and health care data available to researchers, facilitating health services research with high validity and recruitment of patients for further studies or clinical trials. In its first phase, RADAR was able to develop and describe the necessary data protection concepts and procedural and computational routines for collection and pseudonymization of EPR via the BDT interface. These concepts and routines have created a framework and prototype infrastructure to securely export and process EPR data from primary health care practices in a secure and manageable way.In the second phase of the RADAR project, RADARplus, we will consolidate, improve and expand this infrastructure. Two sub-projects will build on existing RADAR processes and improve or expand them. Other sub-projects in RADARplus will develop new infrastructure elements for primary care research. RADARplus can thus be divided into two major work areas:Part 1 – Continuing, adapting and improving the existing RADAR infrastructure and workflows:- Maintenance/continuation of the RADAR infrastructure, including adaptation of the RADAR software with regard to changes in technologies and interfaces.- Improvement of the usability of all processes while maintaining a high level of data protection.- Using focus groups and/or interviews, we will investigate obstacles to general practitioner (GP) recruitment including GPs’ requirements for participating in RADAR.- Development of additional use cases and informational videos for GPs and patients,- Use and evaluation of videos to extend practice involvement in RADAR by recruiting 20 additional GP practices from Lower Saxony.Part 2 – Developing new research infrastructure and techniques:- Conception, development and pilot for digital, paperless informed consent and signature management in GP environments with state-of-the-art technical solutions.- Routine GP data acquisition including the adaptation to current interface developments. We will build a simulated medical practice management software with FHIR interface, which can be queried by the RADARplus software.- With regards to the risk-based anonymization of routine GP data, we will examine the legal determination of identifiability and the boundary to anonymity. On this basis, we will assess various de-identification procedures to determine how they can be used to achieve the legally defined criteria of non-identifiability.- Using the primary care research database, we will develop a research-oriented practice portal based on the existing RADAR infrastructure to create a tailored user interface for both researchers and participating GPs.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Co-Investigators: Dr. Johannes Drepper; Dr. Johannes Hauswaldt
• Ehemaliger Antragsteller: Professor Dr. Otto Rienhoff, until 9/2022