Toward Web-based Careflow Management Systems

Health care systems are prime examples of ultra large scale systems involving complex, distributive processes with a high degree of variability. There are ubiquitous communication and massive data and knowledge management requirements including documentation and reporting. Health care systems are also critical systems, where errors can be very costly in terms of lives, quality of life, and/or dollars. The efficient use of limited resources is not only desirable but necessary. Designing these processes and managing their performance is difficult and error prone. We discuss a web-based Careflow Management System, currently under development, that takes advantage of emerging web technology and extends existing workflow management systems with formal verification features applying high performance computing methods to support real-time monitoring and adaptation. Healthcare ontologies are integrated into the system to allow advanced reasoning and to ensure accurate and relevant knowledge sharing among the various collaborators enhancing interoperability between specialized systems devoted to each area.