Modeling Clinical Pathways - Design and Application of a Domain-Specific Modeling Language

Networking and collaboration in clinical care are increasingly entailing new requirements on supporting medical processes. The information technology (IT) in public health accordingly earns strategic relevance and encounters new potentials as well as challenging demands. The application of conceptual models in health care domain is almost entirely restricted to documentation tasks. Approaches like Model-Driven-Architectures or Workflow Management Systems have shown that the application of models, e.g. transformation, execution and formal interpretation, has huge potential. This article presents a modeling language for modeling clinical pathways. Three scenarios show the potential of conceptual models in health care domain and provide foundations for language requirements. Presenting a state-of-the-art of modeling languages for clinical domain and evaluating existing approaches to the requirements provide the gap to develop a domain-specific language. The potentials of the language and the use of corresponding models in medical treatment are demonstrated exemplarily including a discussion on model-driven management.