Digital health innovation from Finland

The future of health is digital and connected. Tomorrow’s success stories will be built on smarter use of data and cooperation within ecosystems. The Nordic countries are already exploring these possibilities – what can we learn from them?

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Picture by Juho Luomala, taken from Unsplash

The state of the health industry today

European healthcare systems tend to face similar challenges that stem from aging populations, increasing healthcare costs and a shortage of healthcare professionals. These issues are further amplified by regulation that varies between countries, giving each market its own individual problem landscape despite the similar root causes.

Characterized by high standards of care, a strong focus on preventative measures, and an emphasis on research on innovation, the European health industry has a solid starting point toward success. But at the same time, the industry is fragmented and struggling to get up to speed with the potential of new digital technologies and data.

Key challenges include:

Accompanying and supporting people along their entire patient journey
Efficiently sharing insights and patient data, and breaking down silos that slow down collaboration and efficiency
Data privacy and security concerns
Tackling the shortage of qualified and experienced talent as well as finding ways to continuously train and retain staff
Ensuring efficient workflows that create value
Harnessing the unused potential of data and AI

How Futurice can help

When put to use correctly, digital technologies and more efficient use of data can help unleash a new wave of productivity and better experiences for everyone involved – from hospitals and pharmaceutical companies to healthcare professionals and patients – with more efficient knowledge sharing, connectivity, and collaboration.

Futurice is here to help you find the way forward. Our goal is to empower you to solve your biggest problems and make a positive impact on the world. Backed by a solid international track record in the health industry, we are well equipped to plan the best approach and turn roadmaps into reality – together with you.

Our key benefits for the health industry

Our team of world-class experts in design, tech, strategy and business is at your side to catalyze your progress and solve your problems.

We create fast results while aiming for sustainable long-term impact. Together, we prototype, test, validate, and implement new products and solutions.

We bring hands-on experience in implementing complete quality management systems as per ISO 13485.

Our capabilities are certified: ISO 14971 (risk management), IEC 62304 (software development) and IEC 62366 (usability).

Case studies from the health industry

It was an absolute pleasure to work with Futurice! The team was highly motivated and drove the project forward by challenging us, whether strategically or on design or tech level. Thank you!

Rupa Ram

PO and Digital Lead, Buchinger Wilhelmi

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What can we learn from the Nordics?

Involve the people you design and build for
To create effective digital healthcare services, it is necessary to prioritize customer needs, conduct thorough research, and consider all stakeholders involved. Being customer-focused and creating a lasting digital impact means catering to everyone involved in the workflow at each stage, not just the patient. The process from identifying needs to launching a service and then evolving it based on feedback will require plenty of care, attention to detail, and cross-competence expertise.
Overcome disconnections to build operational excellence
Healthcare organizations are notorious for being disconnected due to multiple roles, departments and processes all working in a siloed manner. These disconnections stem from the lack of a common direction, knowledge sharing and communication – which can cause ineffective decisions, duplication, excess work, and suboptimal results. A connected company structure will support your operational excellence as data becomes the key enabler for decision making and knowledge sharing.
Leverage the full potential of your data
Although 54% of healthcare leaders view data utilization as a top business need, many consider their organizations to be data-rich but insight-poor (according to HealthLeaders). Organizations have ample raw data, but leaders are unsure of how to translate data into action that improves organizational, financial and clinical outcomes. Data not only helps us identify internal threats or weaknesses, but it can also assist in uncovering their root causes and tackling them. Data also needs to be shared to enable interoperability and, by extension, sharing and creating value in ecosystems.
Ecosystems win the day
Ecosystems are becoming more common in the healthcare industry, despite past reluctance to share expertise with external partners. Collaborating with a broader network, including startups, tech companies, and other healthcare and pharmaceutical companies, is necessary to provide a complete offering. Partnerships in digital service design are particularly important due to the cost, complexity, and risk of building everything alone in rapidly changing markets. Examples of such partnerships include Novartis and Microsoft, and Pfizer and IBM.

Read on

Futurice is an outcome-focused partner in digital health innovation.

We map complex systems and realities, identify problems worth solving and create solutions that improve products, services, workflows, collaboration and sharing.
We support our customers making their products and services more data-enabled and better in educating the users and thereby contribute to interoperability, more efficiency and better outcomes.
We support remote and outpatient treatment and recovery with digital products and services.
We create future health scenarios to inspire innovation. We experiment and make ideas and business tangible, validate and iterate.
We bring hands-on experience in implementing complete quality management systems as per ISO 13485.
Our capabilities are certified: ISO 14971 (risk management), IEC 62304 (software development) and IEC 62366 (usability).