INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY FOR IMPROVEMENT OF PATIENT REFERRAL SYSTEM FROM PRIMARY CARE TO SECONDARY AND TERTIARY CARE IN SERBIA: "THYRONET"- ELECTRONIC THYROID CONSULTATION NETWORK UDC 616-07:621.39(497.11)

Estimated 80% of all referrals to Tertiary Care for Thyroid disease in Serbia are deemed unnecessary or ill-timed by the specialty care providers, and detract from time and effort available to treat the remaining appropriate referrals. Documentation on patient treatment rarely is delivered from Primary Care to the Specialty Care center, necessitating costly duplication of laboratory and radiology testing. Documentation from the Specialty Care center often does not return to the Primary Care center, rendering follow up care more difficult, and denying Primary Care clinicians the opportunity to learn from each case. A deployed web-based electronic consultation system is proposed to alleviate the problems noted above. Appropriate organizational interventions will be designed into the pilot project to overcome inertial resistance to change, monitor utilization, and proactively ensure cost-effective systems implementation. The use of an electronic system will optimize the time a specialist spends with a referred patient, as complete diagnostic workups will have been completed and this needy patient will not be competing for specialist time with inappropriately referred patients. Additionally, modern database information supports detailed data analysis to observe clinical patterns and treatment effectiveness.