Cyso ambassador: HealthConnected
- Customer since: Feb, 2018
- Industry: Software Development
- Size: 11 - 50 employees
- HQ: Alkmaar
Dieter Vorderhake
Who are Cyso's customers, and why do they choose to work with Cyso? Find out in this personal and revealing series. This time: HealthConnected.
What need gave rise to HealthConnected?
Paul: "Ten years ago, looking to optimise our care services, we were searching for products that could translate our care processes into IT. We were really looking for bespoke solutions from existing suppliers, but what we needed simply wasn't available yet. So, driven by our own needs, we worked out the process side of what we were looking for ourselves and put it down on paper.
We handed the actual development of the product to an IT supplier. The downside of that arrangement was that we were dependent on the supplier's platforms, which brought limitations, such as insufficient capacity on their end. We weren't exactly high on their priority list either, and our requests often ended up at the bottom of the pile. Three suppliers and a great deal of frustration later, we decided to take product development into our own hands and build our own platform. That's how HealthConnected came about."
Dieter: "At its core, we want to improve care delivery, that's what drives us. While we were building the application for ourselves, we quickly realised we could, and wanted to, help more care providers with it. So we designed the processes to be modular rather than fixed, and made them accessible to a wider audience.
HealthConnected has since developed into a modular electronic patient record (EPR) system with all the familiar functionality, such as reporting, medication management and secure communication. It's a digital platform that both primary care providers and patients can connect to."
What makes HealthConnected unique?
Dieter: "HealthConnected replaces and/or connects the various systems used in primary care. Through the system, you can communicate securely with organisations outside primary care and with local authorities. It's user-friendly, flexible, compliant with current legislation and regulations, and built to last thanks to its modular structure."
Built specifically for primary care
Paul: "What we see in practice is that care providers often have to adapt their care processes and actions because the software they use forces a particular process to run differently. We think that's backwards, and instead try to adapt the IT application to the care process. With HealthConnected, we focus specifically on primary care, such as GPs, psychologists, podiatrists and so on, and we want to give them the best possible system, one in which every patient has just a single record."
Everything in one place
Dieter: "Patient data only needs to be entered and maintained in one place. Depending on the permissions set, patient records can be viewed and/or amended by different disciplines."
Modular and universal
Paul: "It doesn't matter which type of care you're dealing with. Whether it's eye care or diabetes care, the building blocks are universal and can be applied to any branch of care. If you want to work with heart failure within your system, you simply can. With other suppliers, you're often required to purchase an additional module, at extra cost. That's not the case with us."
The patient at the centre
Dieter: "The single most important thing is that patients are at the centre of the system. That means they always have access to their own records. Patients increasingly want to stay in control of their own care and expect more personalised treatment. HealthConnected responds to that. We combine functionality, centralise reporting and record access, and make it accessible to a broad group of users, that's what makes it unique."
What were the deciding factors in choosing Cyso?
Dieter: "Three years ago, our supplier at the time couldn't offer what we needed. They recommended Cyso. We also wanted to keep our work based in Alkmaar, not further afield. Short lines of communication and being physically close by, so we can act quickly whenever needed. He laughs: or, so to speak, throw a brick through the window if we're unhappy. The fact that Cyso is based in Alkmaar, with its roots there, fits well with that thinking.
A third factor is that we value personal contact. That's why we looked for a mid-sized company where getting in touch is easy and you're not just a number.
For our processes, NEN 7510 certification matters a great deal. Cyso holds ISO 27001, ISO 20000 and NEN 7510 certification and works according to the standards these set out.
Finally, the ability to connect to a care network was an absolute requirement for our product. Cyso was willing to provide that as soon as we became a customer, and that's exactly what happened."
How is your platform currently set up?
Dieter: "Our platform broadly consists of four parts. We have two network connections, one to the care network and one to the internet. Alongside that, we have the web and database environments. Everything is spread across two data centres and set up with redundancy. On request, we can restore the entire environment to an additional backup environment. That last part is a requirement under our own certification, for the extreme case where both data centres fail at the same time. We work with our own hardware and a private cloud, and data and communication are kept separate from one another."
What problems does Cyso solve for you?
Dieter: "Cyso takes a great deal of responsibility off our shoulders, including around the NEN 7510 standard. A number of our processes are now safeguarded through outsourcing and meet the certification requirements. Technically speaking, it's also the redundant setup and the care network connection that we need, and that Cyso is able to deliver.
We can also leave the proactive management of supporting applications to Cyso, which means our developers can focus purely on development rather than on peripheral tasks.
A big advantage, in my view, is that Tjebbe (management, ed.) is simply reachable and keeps thinking along with us. You find that same involvement from management right through to support staff, and that's real added value."
What future developments should we keep in mind together?
Dieter: "Developments within the Landelijk Schakelpunt (National Switch Point) will become important. A translation process is underway there that should lead to more uniform registration of medical data. This will bring huge improvements to data and communication. It falls to Cyso and to us to respond to this in good time."
Paul Witteman (managing director) and Dieter Vorderhake (product specialist) are the creators and founders of the care application HealthConnected. Originally intended for internal use, the application has since been made accessible to a wide range of care providers. HealthConnected has since grown into an independent organisation.
