DigitalWell's Innovation Support can offer companies and entrepreneurs a review of new products and services at Nordic Medtest. The company has a unique competence in e-health services and verifies new services on a national level.
Nordic Medtest is a subsidiary of Inera, with overall responsibility for testing and quality assurance of the entire service portfolio. Through collaborations with all regions and the major system suppliers, Nordic Medtest has a unique position and expertise in Swedish e-health. The services that are probably best known to the public are, for example, 1177 Vårdguiden, Journalen and My certificates.
In addition to these resident services, Nordic Medtest works perhaps most with the national infrastructure, which is critical for all healthcare providers. This includes the national service platform.
- The journal, National patient overview, pharmaceutical services - it is a long list of services that are connected to the service platform, which the regions' healthcare information systems then connect to to exchange information, says Jörgen Larsson, unit manager at Nordic Medtest.
There is no formal requirement for companies to test new products and services in e-health at Nordic Medtest. The regions have a large leeway to bring in their own digital services, the exception being when these are to be connected to the national service platform. Then there are requirements for which testing needs to be done and sometimes also requirements for certification of certain types of applications.
Common misconception
Jörgen Larsson believes that it is among other things these non-national solutions that sometimes cause confusion regarding information coordination in the Swedish care system.
- There is a very common misconception that there is no platform for information exchange between healthcare providers at national level. For example, I can still see debate articles that such a platform should be developed, but it has existed for many years, says Jörgen Larsson.
Regardless of requirements and application, a verification of a new product at Nordic Medtest can be very rewarding, and contribute as a quality assurance in most contexts. Through DigitalWell's Innovation Support, companies and entrepreneurs can take part in a screening service performed by Nordic Medtest.
- The screening is done based on a selection of aspects that we have identified as important to take into account in e-health. We conduct a survey of the IT system to identify issues and recommendations early on regarding usability, interoperability, information security and legal issues that may be worth considering. This gives the contractor a chance to understand what may need to be corrected to achieve the benefits and effects that are sought, says Jörgen Larsson.
It is important to detect problems early
He believes that the results of the screening can provide benefits at a later stage.
- The screening service is a way to save costs, by getting on the right track from the start, says Jörgen Larsson.
Are there any common pitfalls that you often encounter in your scans and tests?
- I wouldn't say that they are pitfalls because the due diligence is usually done in early phases, but the later an entrepreneur acquires knowledge of potential problems with his idea, the harder it is to correct.
