A desire for centralization of procurement and use of digital health services in psychiatry and psychometric testing.

Health Region Jönköping

Health Region Jönköping has signed an agreement with CheckWare on digital patient participation. "The fact that the same provider can handle the entire digital solution has been crucial for us," says Region Jönköping's project manager for procurement and implementation, Hans Lafin.

Region Jönköping has now signed a major agreement with CheckWare. The region wanted to centralize the procurement and use of digital health services within psychiatry and psychometric tests. The Swedish health region put the need out to tender, and CheckWare submitted an offer that resulted in an agreement.

- Our need was within psychiatry where we require a large number of psychometric tests. The area has been quite unstructured, and we needed to move from manual processes to a comprehensive digital platform. These data fall under Swedish personal data legislation, so it is important for us to have control and oversight, explains Hans Lafin, Project Manager in Region Jönköping.

Business Developer Sandrah Sollenby in Region Jönköping adds:
- We have three psychiatric clinics, a habilitation clinic, and a child and adolescent psychiatric clinic within the framework of the project. Getting everything collected in one place and integrating the digital information into the patient record was especially important for patient safety.

First in Sweden

Hans Lafin says that the region did thorough groundwork to examine digital solutions that have proper information security.

- CheckWare is in our eyes a top provider, with high scores on all these levels. This is a fundamental prerequisite for us when evaluating a supplier, says Lafin.

Sollenby and Lafin admit that it costs a bit extra to be the first. CheckWare has a wide range of forms they offer their customers. The Swedish health region has ordered some new ones, and all the forms must be adapted for the Swedish market.

- We feel we have CheckWare's absolute attention on this; they handle all the rights management work. There are many eyes on this implementation process, checking whether it will be successful or not. The partnership with CheckWare feels very genuine, honest, and good, says Sollenby.

CheckWare has a big task ahead as they enter new, unfamiliar markets. The company must ensure approval of updated forms, procure approved versions, and maintain control over royalties.

Hans Lafin adds:
- The only risk we see is the time factor. We need to have quite a bit ready already by January 2022. Rights have to be checked with rights holders, among other things. We want the project plan to be followed all the way, including the timing of when we release the forms, says Lafin.

The region did thorough work examining digital solutions with proper information security. CheckWare is in our eyes a top supplier, with high scores on all these levels. This is a basic prerequisite for us when evaluating a supplier.

An easier everyday life for all

With the implementation, the region will reduce the time spent collecting patient-reported data via assessment tools and psychometric tests.

Sandrah Sollenby says they are glad the region is doing this now.

- Modern solutions have long been requested by the clinicians and those working out in the region. This is a long-awaited upgrade that will especially benefit the patients. Generally, I believe digitalization is positive for all parties, whether in mental health or somatics. It is important that the products and services are scalable, she believes.

Before patients have appointments with the clinicians, they answer questions at home, on their own private devices. This leads to a much higher degree of patient involvement while enabling clinicians to come better prepared to meetings with patients.

The automatic generation of reports is used for clinical decision support that clinicians will find available in the records before the consultation. This provides easier access to collected patient-reported data, which can also be used for research purposes.

Deeply committed to security

- It is important that we use IT as a secure help tool in our daily patient work. Here we see the opportunity to offer even safer and more equal care for our citizens. With digital documents, we ensure that the correct basis is used in our work, and we reduce administrative burdens in the system, both in dispatch, collection, and compilation. These are resources that can instead be used for patient contact and development of the business, says Micael Edblom, Healthcare Director of Region Jönköping.

It is important that we use IT as a secure help tool in our daily patient work. Here we see the opportunity to offer even safer and more equal care for our citizens. With digital documents, we ensure that the correct basis is used in our work, and we reduce administrative burdens in the system, both in dispatch, collection, and compilation. These are resources that can instead be used for patient contact and development of the business.

There are public guidelines that govern the implementation and operation of digital services. This means that CheckWare's solution is distributed via servers in a data center controlled by Region Jönköping.
The data is not placed in the cloud.

- In this implementation phase, we are focused on two tracks: one is the IT track, especially focusing on security, and the other is the digitalization journey with our staff. It is very important for us that those who work with this daily feel they benefit from the new digital routines, says Sandrah Sollenby.

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