Fujitsu has been selected to help create a unified healthcare patient records and ERP system in the Helsinki area as part of a major digital transformation project known as ‘Apotti’. The company is supporting this ambitious initiative by providing extensive Platform as a Service (PaaS) managed infrastructure services to ensure the availability¹ and security of the Apotti system.
The Apotti project is a co-operation between the local governments of Helsinki and the surrounding regions of Vantaa, Kirkkonummi, and Kauniainen, and the hospital district of Helsinki and Uusimaa (HUS). Its goal is to create a unified healthcare program that manages patient records and clinical data that will allow the region to adopt a more data-driven and evidence-based mode of providing healthcare services. Apotti will also streamline and simplify the region’s existing IT infrastructure, replacing the majority of the systems currently in use with a single Apotti system when it goes into full-fledged operation at the end of 2018.
The new system will improve the quality of care in the region by eliminating the disconnect between healthcare and social welfare services. Healthcare professionals in the area’s 29 hospitals, 40 health stations and 50 social welfare offices will all have access to the same real-time patient information, allowing them to more effectively coordinate support for the elderly, children or those with mental health or substance abuse issues. The approximately 1.6 million residents of the region – around 30 percent of Finland’s total population – will benefit, not just from improved access to healthcare services but also from online services such as confirming appointments or requesting extensions to prescriptions.
Hannu Välimäki, Managing Director for Oy Apotti Ab, said: “This project is the first of its kind which means that we were able to design it from scratch based on the best possible combination of technology, without having to work around legacy infrastructure. Fujitsu is providing not only an infrastructure model that gives us the best possible price/ flexibility ratio but also the high levels of availability and security that are crucial for an efficient healthcare system. We anticipate significant improvements in care as a result of integrating the region’s multiple healthcare systems and we are confident that we have the right infrastructure foundation both for the launch and to scale as Apotti will cover new municipalities in the Uusimaa area.”
Fujitsu’s managed infrastructure services portfolio is designed to provide organizations with a robust but agile IT infrastructure that allows them to optimize their technology budgets by removing the need to deploy and maintain their own infrastructure equipment. Solutions are created by means of co-creation with customers – that is, working closely together to understand their specific current and future requirements to devise and implement the most appropriate solution. The dedicated Apotti infrastructure deployment includes an extensive portfolio of Fujitsu services such as Platform as a Service (PaaS), Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), monitoring and IT support services, in addition to advanced security services to protect sensitive healthcare data.
Conway Kosi, Senior Vice President and Head of Managed Infrastructure Services at Fujitsu EMEIA, commented: “Our dedicated managed infrastructure services are designed to ensure maximum reliability and flexibility for Apotti at a predictable monthly rate. By allowing Fujitsu to deploy and manage its infrastructure, Oy Apotti Ab is freed up to focus on delivering the best possible healthcare service to its users, rather than on managing its technology. We continuously innovate and evolve our services, which means that the Apotti system will always be underpinned by the best available services and infrastructure.”
Implementation of the managed infrastructure services contract for Apotti has already started and full availability of the unified healthcare patient records system is scheduled for late 2018.