Digital platforms could make the healthcare system in Germany more innovative and productive – this is the central finding of a study commissioned by Siemens Healthineers. The results were presented at a recent online event. The study identified seven fields of action for a successful digital future, Pharma Defakten reports (link in German).
A total of 35 experts took part in the study, that dealt with the complicated interaction of IT systems, digital healthcare offerings and those platforms that are crucial for successful digitization. “We are currently entering a crisis that has a lot to do with the demographic situation in Germany,” explained Karsten Knöppler, who presented the study results. The managing director of a Berlin consulting company made it clear: “Digitization can counteract the drifting apart of care needs and the reality of care.” However, the prerequisite for this is “cooperative thinking”. The various players in the healthcare system would therefore have to work together instead of delimiting themselves, because: “Delimitation leads to inefficiency in the system.”
The study identified seven fields of actions to promote platform competition in the healthcare sector:
“Collaborative Thinking”: Healthcare stakeholders need to work together. ©iStock/Ridofranz
- Care goals must be defined, for example for prevention, for emergency and acute care, for the areas of “care” and “chronic diseases”.
- An “organizational target image for networked supply” is necessary: This has to do with connecting analog and digital supply together.
- Equally important is a “technical target image for networked care”: According to the study, “organizational, professional and technical levels must be brought into harmony”.
- “Supply offers” should be developed – the more pronounced the digital networking is, the more “productivity and innovation reserves” can be used.
- It is crucial to make “medical data and functions of care management” available on the platforms – a “joint effort of all actors is essential for this”.
- The “digital maturity of all participating service providers, cost bearers and citizens as a basis for care management” should be promoted and improved.
- The synergy potential between “national e-health infrastructure and private platforms” should be used.
According to Karsten Knöppler, the really decisive point in all these fields of action is the question: “Where do we cooperate?” Because only if everyone involved works together and not against each other can digitization in the German healthcare system progress. Digital platforms are important tools in this – but it is people who need to take these tools into their own hands.
The online event “Study results: Increasing innovation and productivity through the use of digital platforms” (September 30, 2022) was organized by Siemens Healthineers