Integrated Computerized Network General Practices

Welcome to the technical documentation pages for the project "Integrated Computerized Network General Practices (INTEGO)", provided by the service healthdata.be (Sciensano).

These pages provide information about the technical processes of the project. The following sections are (will be) provided:

General project information
The data collection

For scientific information of the project, please contact the primary organization that oversees implementation of project (see section "General project information").

This documentation is being updated regularly. We try to provide as correct, complete and clear as possible information on these pages. Nevertheless, if you see anything in the documentation that is not correct, does not match your experience or requires further clarification, please create support ticket via our portal (https://healthdatabe.atlassian.net/servicedesk/customer/portals) or send us an e-mail via support.healthdata@sciensano.be to report this documentation issue. Please, do not forget to mention the URL or web address of the page with the documentation issue. We will then adjust the documentation as soon as possible. Thank you!

manager Tue, 12/17/2024 - 16:37

General INTEGO project information

Project name

Integrated Computerized Network General Practices

Project abbreviation

INTEGO

Project code

HDBP0147

Primary organization that oversees implementation of project

Academisch Centrum Huisartsgeneeskunde (KU Leuven)

Partner organization participating in project

Not available

Organization that commissioned this project

Zorg en Gezondheid (ZG)

Organization providing monetary or material support

Zorg en Gezondheid (ZG)

Brief project description

"Intego" stands for “integrated computerized network”. In 1990, the project started at the Department of General Practice of the KULeuven. The intention was to develop a large database on morbidity in primary care, to provide information on incidence and prevalence of diseases in Flanders, but also on diagnostic tests and treatments in general practice. The collection of data had to be done semi-automatically by which the data from the electronic medical records were copied and imported into a database. For this purpose a partnership was set up with the software firm Datasoft (later the company OmegaSoft Medical from the group Omega Pharma Company and then separated from this group under the name Corilus as part of Arseus), producer of medical software Medidoc. Intego has built a database that contains about 3 million diagnoses, 27 million laboratory results and 12 million prescriptions for medication. Our data are collected in general practices in Flanders.

johanvanbussel Wed, 08/21/2024 - 17:00

The INTEGO data collection

Organizations and/or individuals that provide data

Network of general practitioners

Start date of the data collection

Not available

End date of the data collection

Ongoing

Periodicity of the data collection

Continuous

johanvanbussel Thu, 04/03/2025 - 09:37

The INTEGO Data Collection Definition (HDBP0147)

In the file below you can find the Data Collection Definition (DCD) specifications of the project "Integrated Computerized Network General Practices (INTEGO)”. It is a detailed description of the content of one DCD.

HD_DCD_SPEC_HDBP0147_INTEGO_v1

johanvanbussel Thu, 04/03/2025 - 12:28

The INTEGO dataflow description

Data collection via the general practitioners using CareConnect

General practitioners participating to INTEGO utilize the electronic medical record system provided by CareConnect. Data collection is conducted via CSV extracts from the CareConnect cloud database, transferred to the Sciensano healthdata.be platform. Importantly, data is only exported from the CareConnect cloud for physicians enrolled in INTEGO and for patients who have not expressed objections to data sharing. The communication of personal data by CareConnect to the healthdata.be platform is divided into two separate streams: (1) the patient identifier, and (2) the registry variables.

The patient identification code (NISS), along with a technical registration code generated by CareConnect, is transmitted through the TTP (Trusted Third Party) service of the eHealth platform. In this process, the technical registration code is encrypted by the sender, while the patient identifier remains unencrypted. Consequently, the TTP service of the eHealth platform pseudonymizes only the patient identifier.

The registry variables, accompanied by the same technical registration code used for the patient identifier, are transmitted separately via a direct, encrypted web service to the healthdata.be platform. Upon receipt, the healthdata.be platform decrypts both communications and consolidates the data based on the technical registration code. After successful consolidation and technical quality control, the technical registration code is immediately and permanently deleted from the healthdata.be platform. The healthdata.be platform maintains a log of all technical processes to ensure transparency and security.

Data validation, preservation, and analysis: Using the supplied data, researchers carry out their work, which includes conducting research and preparing reports for public and targeted audiences. Researchers only have access to the data specific to their assigned register (INTEGO).

Through the healthstat.be platform, scientific reports, diagrams, and figures from the INTEGO register are made accessible to the public at an aggregated level. This is achieved via a secure web application.

Adelaide.DAmore Thu, 04/03/2025 - 09:42

Healthstat

The healthstat.be application of healthdata.be is a data reporting platform based on SAS Visual Analytics and integrated in the Drupal CMS (Content Management System). With the healthstat.be application , researchers of data driven projects facilitated by healthdata.be, can publish tables, figures and maps they made based on the data they have collected among Belgian hospitals, laboratories, physicians, and patients. With these reports, researchers want to give health professionals, healthcare institutions, patients, governments and the general public an up-to-date insight into the prevalence of certain diseases, their causes and impact, and the effectiveness of their treatment

Adelaide.DAmore Thu, 04/03/2025 - 09:48

Request access to Healthstat for a specific register

Healthdata.be applications such as HD4DP v2 and healthstat.be process sensitive personal information. Therefore, strictly controlled processes are used to grant access to these applications. The Entity Access Management (EAM) portal of healthdata.be facilitates these processes.

Make sure to use the current version of the EAM system. The relevant user documentation can be found here.

Adelaide.DAmore Thu, 04/03/2025 - 09:47

User roles within Healthstat

Each healthcare organization has at least one Access Manager who is managing the access rights to the applications of the own organization and is doing so in the HD Entity Access Management (EAM) system. In this process, access requests by healthcare organization employees are analyzed and validated if legitimized. The scope of the accesses granted to healtstat.be may differ, which is reflected in various combinations of user roles and data levels.

Two user roles can be distinguished: Data Provider, which is a user linked to an existing organization, and Sponsor, being the sponsor/coordinator of the data collection. Both are allowed to view reports based on data level. There are two data levels that determine the scope of visibility of the reports: Hospital, i.e. consulted reports contain all data registered by hospital staff, Individual, i.e. consulted reports contain only data that have been registered by that very user.

Data Provider / Hospital:

The Data Provider / Hospital profile can:

consult reports of a specific data collection that contain data from the concerned hospital

Data Provider / Individual:

The Data Provider / Individual profile can:

consult reports of a specific data collection that only contain data that have been personally registered

Sponsor / Sponsor:

The Sponsor / Sponsor profile can:

consult all reports that contain data collected at hospital level

Sponsor / Individual:

The Sponsor / Individual profile can:

consult all reports that only contain data that have been personally registered

Remarks:

It is up to the Access manager to change roles from or to Data Provider / Hospital, Data Provider / Individual, Sponsor / Sponsor and Sponsor / Individual. These actions are to be performed in the EAM system.

Adelaide.DAmore Thu, 04/03/2025 - 09:48

Access to Healthstat

General login condition

The below described procedure to log in with eID or Itsme is reserved for Belgian nationals and foreigners with a residence title for Belgium. Latter users need to ensure that they have a NISS number available, because it is essential to set-up the Itsme application succesfully.

Login procedure

To access the healthstat.be portal, you need to navigate to https://www.healthstat.be. The landing page of the application is displayed.

Click on the user symbol at the top right of the screen, next to the flag symbol (Language selection) and the dots symbol (Support functions). Then click on Log in the pop-up text field.

The Sign in to your account screen appears.

Select the Belgium eID / Itsme option to continue the login procedure for healthstat.be.

You will be redirected to the government's Federal Authentication Service (FAS), where you can log in with multiple digital keys with eID or digital identity.

If you choose to connect via itsme, you will need to enter your cell phone number.

Follow the instructions on your mobile device via the itsme application.

Once you have completed the login procedure you will be redirected to the landing page of healthstat.be.

Select PROJECTS in the left navigation menu in order to display the data collections which you have access to. Select the data collection of your choice (blue arrow).

The relevant data collection is displayed. Select a report under Report title.

In order to consult the report and to select report criteria, you need to repeat the authentication procedure.

Adelaide.DAmore Thu, 04/03/2025 - 09:49

Consulting reports

On the left side of the screen you will notice different reports. All different reports (or folders containing reports) are available to be consulted.

The small lock icon indicates that this is a private reports to which only a limited number of people have access to these. After selecting one of the reports, it could be possible that you are presented with a parameters page. This page will allow the report to be generated with the parameters you request.

Please select a value for all the required parameters.

If all the parameters are correctly entered a report will be generated and it's directed to a page containing the output. Depending on the type of report, it could be a graph or a table.

Adelaide.DAmore Thu, 04/03/2025 - 09:50

Secured process environment (SPE)

Secured process environment (SPE) Adelaide.DAmore Thu, 04/03/2025 - 09:50

Request access to SPE for a specific register

Request access to SPE for a specific register Adelaide.DAmore Thu, 04/03/2025 - 09:50

User roles within SPE

User roles within SPE Adelaide.DAmore Thu, 04/03/2025 - 09:50

Access to SPE

Access to SPE Adelaide.DAmore Thu, 04/03/2025 - 09:50

Import and export of files

Import and export of files Adelaide.DAmore Thu, 04/03/2025 - 09:50

Support service of healthdata.be

The Service Desk of healthdata.be (Sciensano) helps users of our applications and services and deals with requests and incidents.

The Service Desk focuses on those services run by our IT Services (HD4DP, HD4RES, healthstat.be,...) and helps you with accounts and passwords. For questions about the content and objective(s) of the projects, we kindly refer users to the managing research organizations.

For most efficient processing of your request, we advise you to use our service portal: Jira Service management (JSM) portal.

Please find below our support window hours:

johanvanbussel Tue, 12/02/2025 - 14:57

Create a Support ticket

The healthdata.be service (Sciensano) processes each incident report according to a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP). A public version of this SOP "HD Incident Management Process" is also available on this portal docs.healthdata.be.

To submit an incident related to registries and applications in production and facilitated or managed by Sciensano's healthdata.be service, you must first log into the HD Service and Support portal: Jira Service Management (JSM) portal.

More info concerning how to request an account is available here.

After the login step, you will arrive at the main page of the portal

To create a ticket click on "Create a Support ticket"' on the main page.

You will see the page below. Once you have filled in all the mandatory fields, click on "Send".

johanvanbussel Tue, 12/02/2025 - 14:57

Suggest improvement

To suggest improvement about the healthdata.be platform, you first need to log in to the HD Service and Support portal: Jira Service Management (JSM) portal.

More info concerning how to request an account is available here.

After the login step, you will arrive at the main page of the portal.

If you have questions, remarks or if you would like to submit a complaint, you can do so by clicking on the "Suggest improvement" button on the main page of the Jira Service Management portal.

On this page you need to fill in all the mandatory fields and click on "Send".

Jonas.VanBussel Tue, 12/02/2025 - 14:57

Email security policy

WHAT IS THE PROBLEM?

Sciensano blocks e-mails from organizations if the configuration of their e-mail and/or DNS services allow potential abuse by spammers/attackers. More specifically, if the configuration enables other senders to impersonate your organization by allowing them to mimic your organization’s e-mail “Header From”.

In other words, they can send phishing and spam mails that cannot be distinguished from genuine mails from your organization.

If you’re responsible for managing your ICT infrastructure, keep reading. If not, pass this message on to your ICT department or to the ICT service that’s managing your ICT infrastructure.

HOW TO SOLVE IT?

You’ll have to verify that your configuration complies with “Sender Alignment” security requirements.
More specifically, your mail services and DNS will have to be configured according to ICT standards.

These configurations are common, well-documented and supported by hosting companies. Some useful links:

We’ve noticed that this issue frequently occurs in organizations which moved their ICT infrastructure to cloud services such as Microsoft (O365), Amazon, Google, and MS Azure without properly configuring the ICT infrastructure which is not managed by these providers.

The configurations and recommendations need to be implemented on the customer’s ICT infrastructure, either internally or externally. DNS and Mail services are the main ICT platforms for these actions.

THE USE OF DIFFERENT DOMAINS IN THE MAIL SENDING PROCESS

E-mails contain an “Envelope From” and a “Header From”. Both need to match to avoid that the mail is blocked.

Some examples:

A public service is using its new domain name in the “Header From” and its old domain name in the “Envelope From”.

Envelope From = noreply@publicservice.fgov.be
Header From = noreply@publicservice.belgium.be

➔ These e-mails will be blocked.

Remark: Because it’s a noreply address, the sender will not even be aware of us rejecting the e-mail …

2. An organization is using a cloud service (Freshservice) for its helpdesk tool and the “Envelope From” has not been customised.

• EnvelopeFrom = bounces+us.3.52773-helpdesk=organisation.be@emailus.freshservice.com
• Header From = helpdesk@organisation.be

➔ These e-mails will be blocked.

3. A company uses a cloud service (Amazon SES) to send the delivery notification and the “Envelope From” has not been customized.

Envelope From = 01020188573f374-96de6437-9134-45f4-8aa6-3e9ac18d5848-000000@euwest-1.amazonses.com
Header From = noreply@company.be

➔ These e-mails will be blocked.

Jonas.VanBussel Thu, 08/03/2023 - 16:13