How to reduce administrative burden on specialists, shorten the patient pathway and ensure that critical clinical information is accessible when needed
Within the sector, patient flows, clinical risk, systems used, diagnostic scope and service continuity differ, therefore a separate, more specific digitalisation analysis is applied to each business area.
In dental clinics, a single patient treatment plan may include multiple appointments, specialists, images, laboratory work and payment stages.
Diagnostic organisations manage a large flow of tests, samples, images, equipment and results. Greatest value emerges when the entire testing cycle from order to confirmed result review is traceable and integrated.
Rehabilitation services consist of many repetitive procedures, specialists, exercises and outcome monitoring.
In private clinics, patient experience, specialist time and service economics directly depend on how quickly the patient finds the right service, provides information, receives tests, recommendations and the next action.
In long-term care, the most important aspect is consistently transferring information between shifts, professional groups, healthcare institutions and families.
Specialised centres, such as fertility, ophthalmology, dermatology, oncology, dialysis or pain clinics, manage deep and often long-term patient pathways.
Veterinary clinics manage clinical information, multiple animal owners, vaccination, diagnostics, procedures, medicines and billing.
Specialists repeatedly collect medical history, order duplicate tests, make decisions without full context, and the patient becomes an intermediary for information transfer.
Connect registration, referrals, clinical records, investigations, medicines, specialist tasks, patient information and ongoing care so that at each stage there is clear responsibility and next action.
For the selected service or patient group, connect registration, preparation, consultation, examination, results review, patient communication and other actions.
The greatest value is created not by attempting to replace the specialist, but by the ability to reduce their administrative work, shorten the patient pathway and ensure that important information is not lost between systems and organisations.
The full digital sector analysis is presented below. A more detailed analysis tailored to the specific operating model is available on the business area pages.
The sector includes primary care centres, outpatient clinics, hospitals, diagnostic centres, rehabilitation, mental health, nursing, home care and remote care services. These activities are connected by clinical accountability, sensitive long-term data, many different specialists and limited physical capacity.
The same symptom or test result may have different significance depending on patient history, age, medications, comorbidities and treatment goal.
Information is transferred between doctors, nurses, diagnostic specialists, pharmacists, reception, social care and home care teams.
Health information has significant privacy, clinical and legal importance, and patient history may remain relevant for many years.
Queues and capacity are determined by the time of doctors and nurses, consulting rooms, beds, operating theatres and diagnostic or treatment equipment.
Incorrect information, delayed results or an unavailable system can disrupt diagnosis, treatment and the work of the entire institution.
Data protection, cybersecurity, clinical governance, medical device and AI requirements must be reconciled.
The European Health Data Space regulation came into force on 26 March 2025, with its key provisions to be applied in phases from March 2029. The HL7 FHIR health data exchange standard is becoming an important technical direction, but application programming interfaces alone are not enough – common profiles, terminologies, data provenance and clinical semantics are needed. At the same time, the importance of remote care, AI and cyber resilience is growing.
Patient information, registration, referrals and tasks are managed through paper documents, phone calls and separate notes.
Registration and clinical records are digital, but departments and diagnostics transfer much information via documents or manually.
Electronic prescriptions, patient portal or diagnostics integrations are in place, but the entire process between specialists and facilities remains fragmented.
In selected patient journeys, clinical data, tasks, diagnostics, medicines, patient communication and documents are used in one coherent workflow, but coverage is not yet uniform across departments and facilities.
Patient flows, clinical risk, capacity, quality and continuous care are managed using near real-time data.
Clinical practice, processes and IT solutions are continuously evaluated based on outcomes, impact on different patient groups, safety and data quality.
There is no shortage of data in the healthcare sector. The problem is that it is created in different systems, in different formats and at different points in the patient pathway, so it does not always support decision-making when it is most needed.
The greatest value emerges from connecting the entire process: registration, referral, consultation, examination, result review, treatment plan, medicines, discharge and follow-up monitoring. A separate portal or new interface without integration of clinical systems does not solve this problem.
It is worth choosing first one specific patient pathway with the most waiting, data re-entry and unclear responsibilities. Only once this process, data and integrations have been sorted should remote monitoring, advanced analytics or AI be expanded.
Diagnoses, tests, medications, procedures, discharge summaries, images and patient-reported data are stored in different institutional, national, laboratory, radiology or specialised systems.
Patient eligibility for the service, referral validity, priority, specialist competence, test sequence and available appointment slots are checked across multiple systems or by phone.
Primary care, specialists, diagnostics, inpatient care, rehabilitation, nursing and monitoring use separate tasks, plans and communication channels.
Active medications, allergies, changes, medicines prescribed during hospitalisation, actual patient consumption and discharge recommendations are not always aligned in a single workflow.
Clinical, medical equipment, laboratory and administrative systems have different life cycles, access models, vendors and upgrade options.
Consultations, medical history, procedures, diagnoses, codes, discharge summaries and recommendations are often completed in multiple forms, duplicated or finalised after the visit.
Laboratory, radiology and other test orders, sample status, images, reports, critical values and physician confirmation are managed in different systems.
Appointment reminders, preparation instructions, questionnaires, documents, results and recommendations are sent through different channels or conveyed verbally.
Schedules, procedure durations, staff competencies, no-shows, bed occupancy, operating theatre and diagnostic equipment load are analysed in different systems.
Connect registration, referrals, clinical records, investigations, medicines, specialist tasks, patient information and ongoing care so that at each stage there is clear responsibility and next action.
Referral and registration process requires extensive manual checking
Patient self-service and digital journey portal
A single environment for registration, referrals, questionnaires, preparation instructions, appointments, results, documents, payments, messages and other care plan actions.
Patient journey between specialists and services is managed inconsistently
Patient self-service and digital journey portal
A single environment for registration, referrals, questionnaires, preparation instructions, appointments, results, documents, payments, messages and other care plan actions.
Patient communication and self-service are fragmented across too many channels
No-shows, inadequately prepared patients, repeated calls, misunderstood recommendations and administrative work increase.
Patient self-service and digital journey portal
A single environment for registration, referrals, questionnaires, preparation instructions, appointments, results, documents, payments, messages and other care plan actions.
Critical patient information is fragmented across systems and institutions
Specialists repeatedly collect medical history, order duplicate tests, make decisions without full context, and the patient becomes an intermediary for information transfer.
Health data integration and patient record platform
A FHIR and clinical terminology-based integration layer connecting key patient records, tests, medicines, allergies, images, documents and access rights.
Test ordering, execution and results review operate as separate stages
Health data integration and patient record platform
A FHIR and clinical terminology-based integration layer connecting key patient records, tests, medicines, allergies, images, documents and access rights.
Medicine information is not always updated in one place
Health data integration and patient record platform
A FHIR and clinical terminology-based integration layer connecting key patient records, tests, medicines, allergies, images, documents and access rights.
Solutions must operate as a single patient and clinician workflow architecture. Portal, clinical systems, diagnostics, medicines and integration layer must use the same patient identifiers, statuses, accountabilities and access rules.
A single environment for registration, referrals, questionnaires, preparation instructions, appointments, results, documents, payments, messages and other care plan actions.
A FHIR and clinical terminology-based integration layer connecting key patient records, tests, medicines, allergies, images, documents and access rights.
Based on diagnosis, test result, discharge or other event, creates a responsible clinician task, deadline, alert, patient communication and confirmation.
Structured templates, patient questionnaires, voice recognition, AI-prepared drafts and automatic data transfer reduce repetitive entry.
Integrates specialist competencies, procedure durations, rooms, equipment, beds, priorities, no-show risk and actual service delivery.
Integrates test ordering, specimen or imaging status, results, critical value alerts, medication reconciliation, prescription and confirmed review.
Unified identity and access control, audit, consents, data classification, medical device and supplier risk, fallback modes and clinical function recovery scenarios.
The system may create a task or alert, but it must be clear who is required to review the information and make a decision, and within what timeframe.
Profiles, code systems, terminologies, mandatory fields, versions and how information is used in a specific clinical process must be agreed upon.
It is important to know who, when and under what conditions created the diagnosis, result, medication list or patient-provided measurement.
Limited operation, controlled emergency access, data recovery and subsequent synchronisation scenarios are essential.
The purpose of the model, the volume of warnings, the information hierarchy, default values and error scenarios must be tested in real clinical work.
Identify how the patient moves between registration, specialists, diagnostics, treatment and continuing care, and where information is re-entered, delayed or loses context.
Select one clearly measurable problem and agree on the data, statuses, integrations and responsibilities required for the first version.
Connect registration, pre-consultation data collection, specialist workflow, investigations, documents, patient notifications and other actions.
Assess specialist time, patient journey duration, data quality, patient safety, utilisation and unexpected exceptions.
Expand the validated patient journey model to other departments, and only deploy remote care, analytics and AI once reliable data is in place.
Measure the impact of documentation automation.
Assess the efficiency of registration, prioritisation and coordination.
Measure the impact of reminders, self-service and preparation processes.
Assess the benefit of the patient record and integrations.
Assess the safety of diagnostic processes.
Measure the quality of active medications and changes information.
Measure the use of integrations instead of manual re-entry.
Measure technological and clinical business continuity.
Advanced clinical solutions should only be implemented when their purpose is clear, reliable data is used, specialist review is planned and continuous monitoring ensures the solution actually improves outcomes and safety.
Models help detect, measure or mark visible features in images and provide results for review by a radiologist or other specialist.
AI prepares a draft of the consultation record, tasks and patient instructions from the conversation between clinician and patient.
Models analyse vital signs, tests, diagnoses and care history and alert to possible deterioration or risk of complications.
Symptom, vital sign, activity or treatment adherence data collected at the patient's home is transmitted to the clinical team according to defined thresholds.
AI simultaneously analyses structured records, text, tests and images, and presents a summary of the most important information to the clinician.
Federated learning and secure analysis environments enable multiple organisations to conduct research or develop models without pooling all primary data in one location.
The registration, clinical data, diagnostics, specialist tasks, patient communication and integrations will be reviewed, and support provided in selecting one first stage whose benefit can be clearly measured.
