IT

What do healthcare companies and IT companies have in common? Quite a lot, and increasingly so, I would say. The fact that this insight is now beginning to gain wider support was one of the things I had confirmed last week, when we at IT&Telekomföretagen for the first time organized a joint activity with our sister organization Vårdföretagarna - an employer and industry organization for healthcare providers who provide care and care under private auspices.

The theme of the meeting was, of course, digital technology in health and social care, and the aim was to start by gaining a little insight into each other's activities and challenges. What are our common challenges? How can we work together? Should we collaborate at all? In total, we were just over thirty people who were inspired by concrete examples of how companies in health and social care have already digitized some of their work processes, and what they would like the conditions to look like to drive this important work further. We gained an insight into the difference both digital tools and digitized processes can make - not least for care recipients - but also in a sluggish and slow County Council system. How can you change work processes at all if you are not willing to change reimbursement models and frameworks!

Daniel Forslund, Innovation County Councilor responsible for innovation, digitization, eHealth and patient-oriented services, was also present and could point out that changes are on the way. The fact that it will now be possible to receive reimbursement for doctor's appointments made online, for example, gives some hope.

Henrik Moberg from the Ministry of Social Affairs also pointed to progress and promised that the new eHealth vision could be translated into concrete activities, for example in the field of standardization, already this autumn.

So, at the end of the meeting, we were able to conclude that we have a common vision to collaborate on. Our member companies benefit greatly from both continuing to meet, and to jointly push for healthcare in Sweden to make the best use of digital solutions to meet the challenges we face.

As Hammad Al-Saaid, doctor, entrepreneur and founder of Riddarens Vårdcentral put it:

Small and large actors must work together for Sweden to lead in eHealth 2025!