Where do I start?
The easiest way is to create a demo account and try to create a template, print it out, fill it in, upload it to the system and view the validation. More information on our Youtube channel
What is FHIR?
FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources), pronounced like “fire” in English, is a standard for data exchange between different IT systems in the healthcare sector.
Further information can be found at: Welcome to the HL7 FHIR Foundation
Where can I get a FHIR template?
You don’t need your own FHIR template to get started. Simply upload your PDF file and automatically create an electronic version of the questions and answers and position them on the layout. The system automatically generates a FHIR template in the background. However, if you have FHIR templates, you can of course also use them when creating templates. The system will read all questions and answers from the FHIR template and make them available to you for designing the layout. You can change the existing template in the system at any time and the system will update the FHIR template for you in the background.
How does the Demo-Plan differ from the other plans?
The demo plan offers you all functionalities, but is limited to 30 days.
When do I need a Pro or Enterprise plan?
The Pro Plan is for organizations with a greater need for annual data and transaction volumes. All Pro plan customers share the same infrastructure (client-protected, of course). The Enterprise plan is for organizations that either want to operate the system on their own infrastructure or require a special or customized version of ScanToFHIR (e.g. own workflows, special OCR settings, etc.).
I need a custom feature. Can you add it?
For Basic Plan and Pro Plan customers: Feel free to reach out to us with your requirements. We will likely be able to add this feature for you if we find it helpful for other customers. Please feel free to drop us a feature request via mail at: [email protected]
For Enterprise customers: As part of customer support, you can submit suggestions for changes at any time. These will be reviewed by the responsible account and implemented after approval. As part of customer support, you can submit suggestions for changes at any time. These will be reviewed by the responsible account and implemented after approval
Do I need to install or maintain any software?
ScaToFHIR is cloud-based and you don’t need to install anything. All software updates and new features are made available immediately to all customers on the Demo, Basic and Pro plan.
Pro plan customers have the option of sending the PDF files to the system via an STF agent. The STF agent is an auxiliary tool that runs on customer infrastructure and must be installed and configured accordingly. More details here: coming soon.
What role do data storage space and number of pages play?
In principle, the same system functions and features are available to every user, regardless of the plan booked. Product differentiation is expressed in terms of the storage space booked and the number of document pages to be processed. Each PDF document to be processed increases the actual total storage and the total number of pages of the organization with its size and number of pages. If the actual value exceeds the booked value, no further PDF documents are processed. The actual values of an organization are reset every 12 months.
How large can PDF files be?
The size of the PDF files must not exceed 16MB or 50 pages. PDF documents that exceed this size will not be processed by the system.
What paper size do you support?
DIN A4
Where is my data hosted?
The data processing takes place in a data center of aQua-Institut Ltd. based in Göttingen, Germany. The data center is certified according to ISO 27000.
Can I export the data?
yes, the data can be exported as CSV or FHIR at any time. More information: coming soon.
How are the PDF documents identified?
The processing of PDF documents requires 3 pieces of information: template ID, document ID and page number. The system uses this information to find the corresponding page template in the DocumentDesigner and applies the processing and validation rules. For this to work, this information must be present on every page of the PDF document. We currently use the DataMatrix standard to encode this information on a PDF page (see here: coming soon). With the next release, we plan to extend the identification to BarCode, QR code and text.
How do I get the DataMatrix/Document ID onto the PDF?
If you use the mass printing function in the system, the corresponding DataMatrix codes are automatically generated for you and printed on every PDF page output. You do not need to do anything else.
All externally generated documents must implement this document ID specification: see coming soon
Does the system sort the sheets automatically?
Each PDF document is provided with a code in which the template ID, the document ID and the page number are stored. ScanToFHIR can use this information to sort the documents by page number. The document ID is read from the first page in the PDF. The document ID is used to sort and sort out (foreign document IDs). All pages with different document IDs are removed from the PDF document.
How does the system behave with “empty” sheets?
It happens that the PDF documents are read incompletely because, for example: the individual pages were lost before or during the scanning process. Such incomplete PDF documents will still be processed by the system. The non-existent pages are replaced by an unfilled page and marked as “missing” in the system. If answers on the unfilled pages are mandatory or HitL answers, a task is created for each such answer for the operator, which he must check and resolve manually.
What is a validation / FHIR validation?
Each document to be processed undergoes a plausibility validation against the FHIR template. The plausibility rules can be defined for each question in the DocumentDesigner and are saved in the template. Each incoming PDF document is subjected to a plausibility check based on stored rules. For each discrepancy, the system creates a task for the operator to process manually (correction, approval or rejection).
What is a “human in the loop” approach?
With the “Human in the loop” (HitL) approach, control and corrective measures can be enforced on individual questions. With this function, particularly sensitive questions and answers can be checked by staff and require manual approval.
To activate the HitL function, mark the questions in any template that are subject to a check by staff with the corresponding HitL icon. Each new PDF document to be processed first goes through the plausibility validation using FHIR rules and then through the HitL check. If an answer is plausible as its question is marked as HitL in the template, a task is created for the operator to check and resolve manually.