New White Paper on Digital Ecosystems in Healthcare

The German healthcare system is under pressure. The latest white paper on Smart Connected Ecosystems in Healthcare shows what digital applications and business ecosystems can accomplish in the industry.

Demographic change, rising costs, a shortage of skilled medical, nursing and care personnel and growing pressure of digitization are a strain on the German healthcare system. And it is already clear that these challenges will grow increasingly serious in the years ahead. By 2060, according to forecasts, 27.8 million (out of 74.4 million) people in Germany will be older than sixty. Accompanied by a sharp decline in the number of people of working age, this will mean that medical care and the entire healthcare system will be under increasing pressure.

Digital applications that improve medical care and treatment on the basis of medical data are a way out of the crisis. Experts estimate that around half of information in the healthcare system could be shared in this way. Digital ecosystems are an important catalyst in this connection. Personal health data must be merged from different sources and evaluated using different new technologies such as Big Data applications and artificial intelligence to be able to use it efficiently for personalized medicine and and individual treatments. These ecosystems organize the data flow and data systems and have enormous growth potential. McKinsey management consultants are working on the assumption that the network economy might by 2030 in general terms account for 25 percent of the entire economy. They anticipate the greatest growth in the healthcare sector, where business networks with their modularity, scalability, resilience, variety and development capability will benefit from their special strengths in dealing with current and future challenges. 

Telekom with its Smart Connected Ecosystems initiative is a catalyst, data custodian and platform operator for confidential sharing of sensitive healthcare data. In its new white paper Smart Connected Ecosystems in Healthcare, compiled in collaboration with the Smarter Service Institute, headed by Bernhard Steimel, it presents five propositions on the development of the healthcare (eco)system and outlines three possible scenarios for healthcare development by 2030. The white paper also describes strategic approaches for health ecosystems, explains which measures can be used to establish a successful health ecosystem and why in Germany 10 to 15 functioning smaller ecosystems are needed, some of which will go on to exceed dwarf status.

On the Way to Smart Connected Ecosystems

• Save the world in brief
• Great opportunities, major challenges
• Build Smart Connected Ecosystems with a strong partner

Challenges in Reshaping the Healthcare System

• The limits to healthcare as we know it
• Smarter Health – The driver of change
• Five theses on developing the healthcare (eco)system

Healthcare Scenarios for 2030 – A Report from the Future

• Is comprehensive digitized healthcare a utopia?
• The dystopia: Supply crisis overtaxes state system
• Healthy society rescues healthcare system

Strategic Approaches to Health Ecosystems

• Four approaches to smarter health
• Choose the right approach path
• Orchestrator required: Roles and actors in the ecosystem ensemble

Health Ecosystems Set Up Step by Step

• Fix the basics – Start smart!
• Interview with David Matusiewicz
• How to make health ecosystems succeed
• Start now: The Telekom solution contribution