Digital Transformation
"Those who don't digitalise will be left behind", was the headline in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung recently. One profession that can only smile at this is that of GPs. But here, too, there are digital pioneers. Dr Manuel Grahmann from Medicum Wesemlin is one of them.
"Digitalisation is the future. Soon nothing will work without it." Dr Manuel Grahmann is convinced of this. The doctor is co-founder of Medicum Wesemlin(opens in new tab), a modern centre for outpatient medicine. The group practice was built behind old monastery walls in Lucerne and utilises the latest digital technology in all areas of work. This makes Medicum Wesemlin an exotic centre among its peers.
Medical practices that rely on digitalisation are still an exception in the Swiss healthcare system. In times of digital patient dossiers and exploding healthcare costs, many doctors still swear by fax communication, physical document storage and local server solutions.
Medicum Wesemlin is a showcase practice that demonstrates where developments are heading. "We have digitalised all areas of our medical practice," explains Dr Grahmann. "This applies to the entire administration - for example quality management, bookkeeping and accounting - as well as communication with our patients in the form of mailings, IP telephony(opens in new tab) or electronic medical records."
General practitioner Manuel Grahmann relies on modern technology and digitalization in his practice.
But why is the Medicum Wesemlin switching completely to digital? The answer is as banal as it is understandable: On the one hand, Dr Grahmann has always had a great affinity for electronics in the broadest sense. Even as a child, he was involved with the Commodore 64 and Windows 1.0. On the other hand, digitalised processes save time and reduce costs. So even someone who is not a computer science fan like Dr Grahmann benefits from digitalisation. "In my opinion, you no longer need to have a particular affinity for IT to keep pace with advancing digitalisation," says Dr Grahmann.
Dr Grahmann sees the greatest gain with the least effort in the changeover to electronic transmission of findings by some of the medical institutes with which Medicum Wesemlin works. All reports and findings are exchanged digitally and processed paperlessly. The cost of setting up these services was relatively low, summarises Dr Grahmann: "Digitisation has made our working day much more efficient. The administrative simplification saves us costs and gives us more time for our patients."
The facts are therefore clear: digitisation holds great savings potential for outpatient service providers. It can be assumed that more and more GPs will digitise their processes. How quickly this happens will be determined not least by the patient: "Patient acceptance will play a major role in whether doctors in the outpatient sector work with an electronic patient dossier(opens in new tab) sooner or later and switch to digital processes in general," explains Andreas Zürcher, Head of Healthcare Professionals at Swisscom Health.
In times when people book their flights online(opens in new tab), shop via smartphone and make their hairdressing appointments online, they are less and less willing to do without such conveniences in the healthcare sector. In a digitalised healthcare system, patients not only have secure online access to their patient data, but also no longer have to wait weeks for a referral letter by post or lug their x-rays from doctor to doctor in person. Overall, processes become more efficient, leaner and shorter. Practice staff have more time for their core tasks and can take better care of their patients.
Digitalisation is also not just an issue for younger practices: "Digitalisation increases the value of a practice and therefore also the chance of finding a successor," observes Zürcher. And Dr Grahmann adds: "Of course, digitalisation also influences our business model, because the higher efficiency ultimately results in a significantly higher quality of our work. And that also means a better quality of our practising medicine."
«Those who do not digitise will be left behind(opens in new tab)» (NZZ, 14.11.2017)
Photo: Boris Baldinger(opens in new tab)
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