A new Oncology Patient Data Exchange Platform has been developed in Latvia by specialists from the Latvian Digital Health Centre to enable the secure and efficient exchange of clinical information between the country’s three largest clinical university hospitals: Riga East Clinical University Hospital (RAKUS), Pauls Stradiņš Clinical University Hospital (PSKUS), and the Children’s Clinical University Hospital (BKUS).
The platform enhances the quality of patient care while improving the coordination of treatment across healthcare providers. It has become a key component of Latvia’s national eHealth ecosystem, supported by corresponding upgrades to the information systems of the participating hospitals.
The platform enables healthcare professionals to access essential patient information regardless of which clinical university hospital is providing care. This ensures continuity of treatment and facilitates coordinated care across multiple healthcare institutions. Examples include inter-hospital multidisciplinary video consultations, as well as referrals for radiotherapy or surgery to another participating hospital.
The introduction of the platform significantly reduces administrative burden and reliance on paper documentation, while improving the overall quality and efficiency of healthcare services provided to patients.
Inter-hospital virtual multidisciplinary consultations
As part of the project, an inter-hospital multidisciplinary consultation module has been developed to facilitate the secure organisation and delivery of remote clinical case conferences between the participating university hospitals. The module enables clinicians to invite participants, securely share clinical documentation and diagnostic data, jointly review complex patient cases, exchange medical information, and make collaborative clinical decisions. It includes integrated video conferencing functionality, allowing seamless real-time collaboration.
To date, the platform has supported inter-hospital multidisciplinary consultations in neurology, endocrinology, palliative care, multidisciplinary oncology and ophthalmology. This collaborative approach enables unified treatment planning, reduces duplication of diagnostic investigations, and accelerates clinical decision-making.
Inter-hospital referrals for radiotherapy and surgery
The platform also supports secure collaboration between hospitals in the planning, assessment and coordination of radiotherapy and diagnostic investigations. Where a patient receives radiotherapy at a different healthcare institution, healthcare professionals can exchange clinical data and medical imaging electronically, allowing treatment outcomes to be shared in a structured digital format.
In addition, the platform facilitates coordinated surgical planning across the clinical university hospitals by enabling the alignment of operating schedules, optimisation of resources—including operating theatre capacity, staff availability and medical equipment—and the secure sharing of the necessary clinical information. This improves resource utilisation and contributes to shorter waiting times for patients.
Benefits for healthcare professionals and patients
The new data exchange platform has been operational since the beginning of this summer.
Nora Kaufmane, Head of the Information Systems Development Department at the Latvian Digital Health Centre, highlighted the platform’s benefits:
“The platform will provide clinicians with faster access to more comprehensive patient information, enabling better-informed clinical decisions and more effective treatment planning. At the same time, it will reduce administrative workload and minimise paper-based processes, allowing healthcare professionals to devote more time to direct patient care.”
The platform introduces a common standard for clinical data exchange and a unified documentation framework for inter-hospital multidisciplinary consultations. It also ensures the secure and timely exchange of information required to support real-time clinical decision-making.
Enhanced collaboration between clinicians through the new platform will help reduce waiting times for radiotherapy and surgical procedures at partner hospitals, while decreasing the need for patients to undergo duplicate diagnostic investigations. The platform also addresses a longstanding challenge within Latvia’s healthcare system by enabling effective, fully digital continuity of care for paediatric oncology patients as they transition from children’s to adult healthcare services. Overall, the standardisation of clinical data exchange will improve the quality of treatment and strengthen patient safety.
Nora Kaufmane, Head of the Information Systems Development Department at the Latvian Digital Health Centre
Project information
The project, Development of the oncology patient data exchange platform for clinical university hospitals, was implemented under Investment 2.1.3.1.i, Data Availability, Sharing and Analytics, of the European Union Recovery and Resilience Facility.
The total project budget amounts to €4,652,525, of which €4,289,750 was financed through the Recovery and Resilience Facility.
The project beneficiary is Riga East Clinical University Hospital. Project partners include Pauls Stradiņš Clinical University Hospital, the Children’s Clinical University Hospital, the Latvian Digital Health Centre, the Centre for Disease Prevention and Control of Latvia, the State Digital Development Agency, and the National Health Service of Latvia.
17.07.2026.
