Danish citizens, for the most part, have become very self-reliant, they have the resources – and expectations – for more digital contact with the healthcare system. Digitalisation must support those who can and expect digital healthcare –while simultaneously, freeing up time and availability to citizens who may need more physical contact with the healthcare system.
In the spring of 2018, the Ministry of Health in collaboration with the Danish Regions, Local Government Denmark (KL) and the Ministry of Finance, presented the strategy: “A secure and coherent health network for all – digital health strategy 2018-2020.”
One of the focus areas of this strategy is “The Doctor in your Pocket – a citizen-oriented app in the general practice” that enables more individually tailored treatments and digital communication and this is exactly where the “My Doctor App” is centred.
As digitalization and the development of new digital channels change, the way resourceful citizens communicate with the healthcare system will also change.
The goal of “My Doctor App” is for citizens to experience the healthcare system as one secure and coherent network that is digital while remaining human. This gives citizens a more flexible contact with the healthcare system, where individual needs can be met and are taken more fully into consideration.
The main objectives were:
Our clinics already offered e-consultations and booking through their websites, but they were more operation-focused and many of the sites were of different quality. Therefore, it made good sense on PLO’s part to expand with a united app – for one united entrance. We are very pleased with the technical result and Trifork manages to make the complicated very simple by combining 6 different IT patient systems, national registries and 3400 GPs into one user-friendly and citizen-oriented app. Collaboration with Trifork has been easy, and they have in-depth knowledge of public infrastructure. They put together the right team of very capable and competent people. We succeeded with the first release in just 4 months because all parties were focused. All actors, private and public, worked together towards a unified goal.
At the time, GPs (General Practitioners) already offered e-consultations and appointments through their websites, but the solutions varied from doctor to doctor – so there were great opportunities to expand with a common app for general practice.
The app builds on the existing solutions in a new digital channel for communication with your doctor, so that citizens, regardless of their practitioner, have easy and flexible access to features and services, and thus have a better opportunity to participate in their treatment.
The solution includes:
With easier access to information, the opportunities for a more equal collaboration with health professionals regarding their treatment are strengthened. Resourceful patient groups expect healthcare to be available on digital platforms, apps, public health portals and more.
We have a lot of experience with digital health and would like to reach even more users – and to make the complicated seem easy and intuitive. The project had many actors – private as well as public. It required a strong and mature customer with an agile mindset, and because we all wanted to succeed, and therefore went in as a united front – despite different agendas. It was an extraordinary effort by all parties.
Trifork always strives to make the complicated as simple as possible. With “My Doctor App”, Trifork has combined extensive app development expertise with years of experience in digital health. This exact combination provides more citizen-oriented solutions such as “My Doctor App”, delivered on time and within the framework that was set.
Making a joint app work across the eight different IT patient systems used in general practice is a huge task and all parties involved were very aware of the scope of the project. Therefore, a realistic level of ambition was laid in the first version of the app, which focused primarily on renewing the existing electronic communication between doctor and patient. All of this has been achieved and the “My Doctor App” is continuously being developed and new features added – all in a collaboration between Trifork, The Danish Organisation of General Practitioners (PLO) and the Danish Ministry of Health.
The My Doctor App gives citizens a more flexible connection to the primary part of the healthcare system – their own doctor – where more individual needs are taken into consideration. By relieving and supporting the easy contacts, the doctor’s time will be free to help citizens who need personal contact.
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