A Context Broker for Better Access to Quality and Cost-effective Healthcare

Context refers to the particular settings that give additional information on the reasons behind the set of data that is obtained and its value to the end user. Context is often derived through inferences and reasoning techniques, the aim being disambiguation, reducing doubts, and improve confidence levels. In essence, context is determined based on factors including time, location, frequency, participating persons and devices, etc. It is critical for data to be considered in its context, albeit the quality of context is equally important. How data is collected (processes), its usefulness (validity), its correctness (accuracy), and its up-to-dateness (latest facts) are just some key parameters considered in evaluating the quality of the data that is being processed. In recent years, there has been numerous attempts to deploy middeware agents such as brokers in a myriad of applications in domains such as retail, education, and healthcare. The context broker that is presented in this paper addresses some critical healthcare issues: availability, cost and quality. This broker is for general and specialised healthcare needs in specific medical fields, and it is especially useful in emergency situations. It showcases how a broker can be used to enhance the provision of cost-effective and quality medical services across the 34 main healthcare centres in the city of Pretoria. The context broker collects queries from users (patients or their dependents), and refers them to the best and most affordable hospitals on the basis of their geographical location, financial status, quality of care and the availability of the requested medical services at the time their request is made. (c) 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.