These are the best healthcare IT consultants

Cologne What is the course of a patient’s illness? This question is no longer exclusively of concern to doctors. Myia answers them with the help of artificial intelligence (AI). The US company equips patients with biosensors that measure blood pressure, blood sugar or heart rate, for example. The regularly collected values ​​are compared with a huge data pool.

In this way, the Myia algorithm can calculate how the patient’s condition will develop. If the data is critical, a video consultation can be held with the attending physician via the Myia platform. The patient also feels safe at home. There is also an advantage for hospitals: They can better plan their bed occupancy.

BCG advised Digital Ventures, a subsidiary of the Boston Consulting Group, which supports companies in developing digital business models, when setting up Myia. The alliance between BCG DV and Myia is representative of the trend in the industry: Consulting firms are preparing for the digitalization push in the healthcare sector.

In Germany, the government is also promoting the issue. With the Hospital Future Act (KHZG), which came into force in 2020, the federal and state governments are providing up to 4.3 billion euros for digitization. BCG-DV partner André Heeg expects more business as a result: “Hospitals have an enormous amount of catching up to do with digital,” he says. “This offers consulting companies new potential, for example in IT consulting or in process optimization.”

There is little time left for hospitals to initiate digitization projects. Applications for funding must be submitted this year. And hospitals do not invest consistently in digitization, there is a risk of sanctions from 2025. Then clinics that have not digitized in the eleven specified fields such as telemedicine, service documentation or patient portals have to expect a discount of up to two percent on their patient bills.

The pressure on hospitals is palpable

You can feel the pressure on hospitals to submit applications on time, says Michael Burkhart, Head of Health Management for the Central Region at PwC Germany. The KHZG led to a rethink. “The willingness to digitize has increased as a result,” says Burkhart.

PwC sees the clinics’ need for advice primarily on the holistic strategy. This should equally take into account the clinical area, IT and administrative processes. “The KHZG is a step in the right direction, but it will only digitize some previously analog processes. For a complete digitization of the houses, we would need another zero in the funding amount of the new law, ”says Burkhart.

Artificial intelligence could find its way into many places. Chatbot apps could support patient anamnesis, derive diagnoses and therapy suggestions – in theory.

One hurdle is the lack of AI expertise in many places. It is also difficult for the clinics to choose a suitable provider of intelligent systems and the integration of new IT technologies, says Burkhart.

Shortage of staff

It is questionable whether consulting firms can meet the increasing demand for know-how. In fact, the industry is already short of staff. The ten leading companies want to hire a total of almost 5,000 consultants this year and next. This is the result of a survey by the Handelsblatt from the summer of this year. The staff shortage also affects the health sector.

“The KHZG and the digitization of hospitals mean that many new consultants are entering the health market,” says Pierre-Michael Meier, managing director of the decision maker factory, an industry network in the health sector. The problem: “When it comes to health IT, half have no idea. And those who are sufficiently qualified already have no time. “Meier is concerned:” For the qualification of hospital consultants we need a discussion about areas of competence and certificates. “

The expert predicts that the lack of qualified employees is driving IT consulting costs up in the health sector. “The scarce resource of advice is becoming even scarcer due to the pressure to digitize,” says Meier. “The IT consulting market for hospitals is very fragmented. It is possible that small providers will be taken over by large consulting firms. ”This development is actually in progress. For example, this year PwC joined Statice, a Berlin specialist in data anonymization.

Other consultancies such as Unity Consulting & Innovation with around 300 employees focus on further training and the recruitment of new staff. “We aim for organic growth. If we were to buy smaller IT or consulting firms instead, our corporate culture could suffer, ”says Meik Eusterholz, Head of the Healthcare Business Unit. Unity has set up an internal training program that prepares established and new employees for the challenges in the healthcare sector within a year.

Eusterholz sees a lot of potential in process optimization in particular: “Most IT projects fail because the introduction of a solution is viewed in isolation. But we have to work with the hospitals to think about how to deal with it. This is the only way to relieve hospital staff through digitization, ”says Eusterholz.

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