Health Technology and Digital Collaboration – Great Benefits, but Unrealized Potential

Health Technology Saves Time and Resources

Health technology is already significantly reducing costs in municipalities. A survey shows that digital solutions free up resources equivalent to 2.8 billion NOK annually.

Two technologies stand out in particular:

• Digital supervision saves municipalities 1.1 billion NOK per year by reducing the need for routine home visits and institutional oversight.
• Electronic medication support ensures safer drug management and reduces errors.

The technology not only makes healthcare services more efficient but also provides greater security for users. Patients receiving digital supervision report better sleep and fewer disruptions, while healthcare personnel gain more time to focus on those who need it most.

However, realizing the economic benefits directly remains a challenge. Half of the municipalities choose to allocate saved resources to improving service quality rather than cutting costs.

Digital Collaboration Must Improve

Effective information flow between healthcare providers is crucial for efficient and safe healthcare services. Digital tools can provide faster access to critical patient information and reduce administrative work, but several barriers hinder the benefits:

• Poorly integrated medical record systems create technical obstacles.
• Unstructured information forces healthcare personnel to spend too much time searching for relevant data.
• Lack of incentives for information sharing leads to low prioritization of updating patient data.
• Significant disparities between municipalities—some have made great progress, while others struggle with implementation.

A specific issue is that critical documents, such as discharge summaries, are often available too late. In some cases, home care services must wait several days for updated patient information after a hospital discharge.

How Municipalities Can Succeed Better

To fully realize the benefits of health technology and digital collaboration, several measures must be taken, according to the report.

1. Integrate Technology into Work Processes
   Technology must become a natural part of services, not an isolated add-on solution. Municipalities that have succeeded have reorganized work processes to better utilize technology.
2. Improve Information Flow
   Better structure and standards for information sharing will enable more efficient use of existing digital tools.
3. Strengthen Economic Incentives
   Municipalities need not only funding for technology investments but also support for training, implementation, and operations.
4. Mandate the Use of National Collaboration Tools
   Shared medication lists and standardized solutions will ensure better information flow between service levels.
5. Set Clearer Requirements for Suppliers
   Medical record systems must become more user-friendly and integrated to avoid unnecessary delays and information chaos.

Economic Barriers and Funding Needs

Many municipalities receive support to purchase new technology but lack resources for training and changing work routines. This slows down the realization of benefits.

To succeed, better support is needed for:

• Implementation and capacity building.
• Training employees for optimal technology use.
• Operation and maintenance of solutions over time.

If more municipalities adopt technology as systematically as the best in the survey, the benefits could increase to over 11 billion NOK annually. At the same time, the actual potential is likely even greater, as the survey only compares with the best participants—not necessarily those who are the very best in Norway, according to the report.

Sources:

The reports «Gir helseteknologi forventede gevinster?» and «Digital samhandling for helhetlige pasientforløp, kvalitet og effektivitet», prepared by Oslo Economics on behalf of KS.