THE EUROPEAN – SECURITY AND DEFENCE UNION
In the Spotlight
+++ Digitalisation +++
Supporting care givers by synchronising all processes
Defeating Covid-19 through worldwide common digital procedures Interview with Dr Dirk Wössner, CEO, CompuGroup Medical, Koblenz Dirk Wössner: Indeed, you are right. We The European: Dr Wössner, you became are also fostering learning from data the Chief Executive Officer of CompuGroup and providing more and more clinical Medical (CGM) in 2021, at a time when Dr Dirk Wössner decision support for all those involved the company’s state-of-the-art software has been the CEO of CompuGroup Mein care processes. is supporting Covid-19 vaccinations dical in Koblenz since 2021. He holds worldwide. Even more than before the a doctorate in chemistry. From 1997 The European: Many countries have pandemic, the whole world is now calling to 2002 he worked for McKinsey & already passed laws to further digitalise for connections between people, facilities, Company in Munich and Madrid before their healthcare sectors. Do states or and processes for an optimised impact of holding various management positions governments need to do more to nudge diagnoses and therapies. Is this pandemat Deutsche Telekom until 2015. He the process forward? ic a real breakthrough for digitalisation was then responsible for mobile and Dirk Wössner: Numerous governments in the health care sector in Europe and cable business consumers in Canada, have recognised the urgent need for acworldwide? before becoming a member of the mation and have adopted large investment Dirk Wössner: Absolutely. This pandemnagement board of Deutsche Telekom programmes, worth billions in some ic has made us aware of how crucial until 2020. cases – for example, in Germany with well-functioning and efficient healthcare the “Krankenhauszukunftsgesetz” (Hosis, as well as the opportunities that pital Future Act) and in France with the “Ségur de la Santé” arise from digitalisation of processes, data processing and package of measures. All Member States of the EU should information exchange. Many services were useful before the follow suit so that the European Union can become the global pandemic, but since the worldwide spread of COVID-19, there leader in the digitalisation of healthcare. has been a big leap forward and everyone has seen and experienced video consultations, telemedicine, personal health The European: Certainly, one of the major digitalisation records, digital vaccination records and so on. projects in European healthcare is the German Telematics Infrastructure. What can you tell us about the status and future The European: CGM has benefited greatly from this dynamic of this project in Germany? growth of digitalisation. But at the same time, medical care Dirk Wössner: While in the past, the Telematics Infrastructure has only benefitted to a limited extent so far from information mainly involved access and administrative processes, it is technology and telematics. The greater part is yet to come. now starting to support medical care itself. This includes a What are your value creating goals? medication plan, emergency data set, physicians’ letters – real Dirk Wössner: There are indeed many growth opportunities support for secure and coordinated healthcare. Within this driven by digitalisation, which is only just beginning to develproject, our company is committed to creating a broad basis for op its strengths in many areas. a digitally supported patient journey. Hundreds of thousands We always focus on the so-called “patient journey”, i.e. the of healthcare professionals and millions of patients will benefit course of treatment for a patient, for example from the family from these achievements. doctor’s office to the hospital, the rehabilitation clinic, etc. Often, many care givers are involved in one healthcare proThe European: Let me come to data security and turn to your cess and our goal is to support them by synchronising all the conviction that digital health is a win/win situation, because processes. secure data and secure digital technologies are key responses to sudden health threats. But these exchanges are not without The European: Thus, you are enabling the patients themselves risk and danger. They need to be ultra-secure, especially if data to participate.
18
