Unilabs leads the way with Mitz connector from Enovation for managing patient consent

The laboratories of Unilabs Netherlands, one of Europe’s largest diagnostic organisations, in the Utrecht region were the first to “go live” with Enovation’s Mitz connector in March. Mitz is the national facility that allows citizens to view and manage their data sharing consent online. The Mitz connector enables laboratory results to be shared with multiple healthcare providers based on the consent recorded in Mitz, helping to improve the quality of care.

In short, the Enovation Mitz connector establishes the technical link between Unilabs and Mitz. Unilabs – the umbrella organisation for the laboratories Atalmedial, Medlon, Saltro and SHO – is pleased to be able to start using the Mitz connector. With the first go-live in the Utrecht region now complete, Unilabs plans to roll out the connection to Mitz across other regions.

Important tool

Sjoerd Visser, Head of IT Netherlands at Unilabs, explains: “For us, it’s a very important tool in positioning ourselves as a reliable partner in the care chain. At the same time, you often notice a certain hesitancy in the healthcare sector. There’s general agreement that certain standards are important, but it often takes a very long time before they’re actually implemented. We’re also seeing significant pressure from hospitals in the region to be connected to Mitz, so we’re pleased to have taken another step forward. Our message is that this confirms our role as a strong chain partner who facilitates regional care, and demonstrates our commitment to meaningful and efficient healthcare.”

Growing momentum for patient consent in healthcare

Ensuring patient consent is not just a hot topic in the Netherlands – it’s also high on the European agenda, particularly with the introduction of the European Health Data Space legislation. We at Enovation are closely monitoring these developments. In the Netherlands, consent via Mitz now really seems to be gaining ground, which is an important step for digital care and collaboration. A major national campaign is planned to raise public awareness of Mitz, but healthcare organisations increasingly recognise that it is becoming the national standard. From a technical standpoint, the system is up and running – the next step is for citizens and healthcare providers to start using it in practice.

Implementation

Chi-La Bes (Information Architect at Unilabs) has been working closely with Project Lead Danny Raven from Unilabs on the connection to Mitz: “The advantage of the connector is that healthcare providers who didn’t request the diagnostics from us themselves can still access the lab results, provided the patient has given consent in Mitz.”

“I’m delighted that this Mitz connector is now available,” says Chi-La. “Five years ago, I was already having discussions with the region about giving consent. Two years ago, it became a national topic again. And now it finally seems to be taking off, which is a very positive development. Sometimes it just takes one party to lead the way.”

Keeping healthcare affordable and accessible

Sjoerd: “At Unilabs, we’re keen to support this development, as it contributes to keeping healthcare in the Netherlands both affordable and accessible. To give another example: one of the benefits is that it helps prevent unnecessary and duplicate diagnostic testing. Doctors don’t need to send patients to a collection point or phlebotomy location unnecessarily – for instance, if the patient was already there just two months earlier. “If the patient has given consent, the information is available to other doctors. What’s more, this approach aligns with the national Integral Care Agreement (IZA).”

A front-runner in the field

Enovation is currently one of only three suppliers in the Netherlands with a Mitz connector approved by Mitz. “There is clear demand for this development in the market, and we also recognise its importance,” says Business Lead Sebastiaan Weerd. The Mitz connector has been integrated at Unilabs via Enovation XDS. XDS is the exchange system used in the Netherlands to make data – such as images (e.g. X-rays), documents and lab results – available between healthcare organisations.

So how does the Enovation Mitz connector work?

The connection and data exchange with Mitz currently consists of two parts for Unilabs:

• Patient registration with Mitz
  When a lab result is created for a new patient, a registration message is sent to Mitz via the Mitz connector. This lets Unilabs know that Mitz holds data for this patient. The patient then receives a notification on mymitz.nl.
• Consent check via Mitz when requesting lab results (closed query)
  When lab results are requested by healthcare providers from Unilabs’ XDS, a consent check is performed with Mitz – if explicit consent is required. This validates whether this patient has given consent for this data to be made available. If consent has been given, the results are released. If no consent has been given, the results are not released. The patient also receives a notification via mijnmitz.nl.

Smooth launch

Enovation is proud to have successfully launched this first Mitz connector. In a relatively short time, the Enovation team successfully completed the project in collaboration with the Unilabs team. A great example of how digital collaboration can enhance healthcare – and the perfect reason to celebrate with a delicious cake!

Pictured: Egbert Hooijsma (Change Manager at Unilabs), Chi-La Bes (Information Architect at Unilabs), Sjoerd Visser (Head of IT Netherlands at Unilabs) and Sebastiaan Weerd (Business Lead at Enovation).