Data that can save lives
More than 11,000 of the 13,000 patients surveyed support medical research in Magdeburg – Saxony-Anhalt’s Minister of Health learns about the Broad Consent initiative and digitization projects at Magdeburg University Medical Center.
More than 11,000 of the 13,000 patients surveyed at Magdeburg University Medical Center (UMMD) have agreed since July 2024 that their health data may be used for research purposes. With this decision, they are making a direct contribution to better understanding diseases and improving therapies. Consent is given under the so-called Broad Consent, a nationwide standardized procedure that allows the use of treatment data for research under strict data protection requirements. In light of this success, Saxony-Anhalt’s Minister of Health, Petra Grimm-Benne, visited the site to learn about the practical implementation in daily hospital operations, the data flow, and ongoing digitization projects.
Data is generated during every hospital stay: lab results, diagnoses, treatment histories, or information on pre-existing conditions. This information is collected as part of medical treatment anyway. With Broad Consent, patients themselves decide that their health data—in pseudonymized form, meaning without any connection to individual persons—may also be used for research purposes.
Photo: During a visit to Magdeburg University Hospital, Saxony-Anhalt’s Minister of Health, Petra Grimm-Benne, learned about broad consent and other digitalization projects. The first stop was the Central Patient Admission Office and the consent process; afterward, Dr.-Ing. Tim Herrmann demonstrated at the Data Integration Center (DIZ) how the collected data is processed and used for research and patient care. Photographer: Sarah Kossmann / UMMD
“Every consent is a building block for tomorrow’s medical research. By giving consent, patients enable the use of their data not only for a single project but also for future studies that aren’t even planned yet—and they do so quite simply upon admission to the hospital,” explains Dr.-Ing. Tim Herrmann, Managing Director of the Data Integration Center (DIZ) at Magdeburg University Medical Center. The data can be particularly crucial for common diseases such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, cancer, or dementia: It helps identify patterns, improve treatments, and thus significantly ease the daily lives of those affected.
The team at the Central Admissions Office of Magdeburg University Hospital plays a central role in the practical implementation. There, patients are informed about Broad Consent, questions are answered, and consent is obtained. The technical implementation and integration into hospital processes were carried out by the hospital’s IT department and the DIZ, ensuring that data can be securely collected and processed. Aileen Golling, deputy head of Central Admissions, reports: “We see every day that people welcome the opportunity to actively help, especially when they know their data is protected. Many say: ‘If my data might someday help others recover faster, I’m happy to do it.’”
Sharing Knowledge, Improving Health
A key part of the success lies in the combination of technical security, clear information, and voluntary consent. Consent is valid for five years and can be revoked at any time without penalty. An independent trust agency ensures that the data is managed separately from personal information and securely encrypted. At the DIZ, the treatment data is then consolidated into standardized formats, stored, and made available for research purposes.
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The proportion of patients willing to make their data available for research stands at 83 percent. This places Magdeburg slightly above the national average. In the future, Broad Consent is to be gradually introduced in all 26 clinics of the UMMD, in addition to the Central Admissions Office. “Especially in times of sensitive data protection debates, trust in the use of medical data is crucial. The high participation rate shows that many people recognize the value of medical research,” emphasizes Prof. Dr. Daniela Dieterich, Dean of the Magdeburg Medical Faculty. “In the long term, Broad Consent helps to translate research findings into everyday clinical practice more quickly. This enables the development of personalized medicine that better addresses individual needs. For patients, this means: better diagnoses, more targeted treatments, and secure handling of their data.”
During her visit, Minister Grimm-Benne emphasized: “Ethically responsible handling of patient data and secure digital solutions like Broad Consent are a crucial building block for the medicine of the future. Comprehensive information and samples from broad populations can help identify trends and disease outbreaks early on and respond to them in a targeted manner. Whether it involves managing pandemics or combating chronic diseases: more efficient research allows for early action that saves long-term costs in both the medical and public sectors. Above all, this can also improve patients’ chances of recovery in the long term.”
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Background
The Broad Consent in Magdeburg is part of the nationwide Medical Informatics Initiative (MII) and the University Medicine Network (NUM), which is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). The goal is to make routinely collected treatment data available for research nationwide. A key advantage is nationwide uniformity: the model text coordinated by the MII is used at all university hospitals. This makes it easier to consolidate and compare data from different locations—an important foundation for national research networks and collaborations.
Contact
Dr.-Ing. Tim Herrmann, Managing Director of the Data Integration Center (DIZ) at Magdeburg University Medical Center, tim.herrmann@med.ovgu.de, +49 (0) 391/6713551