There are some important perspectives that need to be considered in the political debate of the recommendations, as highlighted in this article featuring Jannik Zeuthen, Head of Policy & Partnerships at HTHC: "Small Municipalities Risk Being Left Behind in the Digital Makeover of Healthcare." (available in Danish behind a paywall)

Some key points:

• Digitalisation and data create value out among citizens and healthcare personnel, not in large IT organizations. When digitalisation and data become an independent cross-cutting recommendation, there is a risk that we will not create the structural changes needed for digitalisation in the foundational structure of the healthcare system – for example, telemedicine centres and mandatory technology partnerships between municipalities. This could mean that particularly small municipalities and hospitals do not receive the help they need for digitalisation.
• We need to find the golden middle ground between centralisation and decentralisation. If we establish one large organization for IT infrastructure, it should be in a corporate structure with common leadership that ensures a unified direction, but with decentralised and independent organisations underneath. Otherwise, we will create a colossus with feet of clay.

What are your thoughts?

We are currently preparing a consultation response, based on our own extensive analysis of barriers, solutions, and recommendations for digitalization and data: Better Digital Health (LINK), and many good debates since. If you have relevant input to add, please write to us, and we might include it in our response.