Testing Personal Health Records: How Interoplab enables MedMij compliance
How do you verify that health data reaches the right Personal Health Record? Interoplab built a reference PHR to demonstrate compliance — and we'll show you how.
By Sandra Ottens, Interoplab
Patient data must be accessible and reusable. That sounds simple, but practice is stubborn — especially when that data must travel through multiple systems and institutions before becoming visible in a patient’s Personal Health Record (PHR).
The problem: It’s not just about exchange, it’s about reuse
A common complaint from healthcare professionals: data is exchanged more and more often, but quality falls short. Paul Hoogland (senior consultant, MedicalPHIT) points to medication errors as a concrete consequence: approximately 150 people are admitted daily in the Netherlands due to incorrect medication use — often preventable with better information exchange.
But the challenge goes further. When data is correctly registered at the source and properly delivered to downstream users, that same data also supports quality registries and research. The standards exist — but they’re not applied uniformly.
Interoplab as independent arbiter
Pascal Looijé (director Interoplab) explains: “We built a reference PHR that software vendors and hospitals can use to test implementations before going live. We’re the independent party verifying that information is displayed correctly and that messages are delivered properly.”
The testing model follows a “projectathon” approach: healthcare providers and PHR vendors test their systems together. Every step in the chain must be verified. Only when all five checks pass is a system ready.
Why this matters
The deadline for hospitals to offer PHRs was September 2022 — tight planning for a complex technical challenge. By testing early and systematically, you prevent problems from being discovered only in production.
Building a PHR implementation or working on MedMij compliance? Get in touch →