In the end of April we participated in DMEA, Europe’s leading digital health event. The healthcare IT discussion there was not about the next system replacement. It was about changing how digital healthcare is built, so clinicians can work with less friction and care can evolve without IT becoming the bottleneck.
In one of the keynote sessions, Teemu Mäkelä, CIO of Päijätsote wellbeing county, shared a reality many hospitals recognize: monolithic platforms have become hard to adapt as care, regulation, and expectations change.
Off stage, the same themes were even more urgent: many hospitals are running end-of-life clinical systems on old architectures, and the pressure is visible in everyday work.
From keynote to corridor conversations: What hospitals asked for at DMEA
The conversations went beyond hospitals to consultants and advisors, who see the same pressure across sites and networks: end‑of‑life clinical systems on outdated architectures that make change difficult. As a result, discussions focused on how open platforms, standard data models, and modular clinical suites can support transformation at scale.
Interoperability: The biggest challenge and opportunity
Interoperability came up as both a challenge and an opportunity. Too much data is still locked in closed systems or unstructured formats limiting development. And because hospital IT is never a clean slate, modular EHR (electronic health record) must co‑exist with specialty systems ICU (intensive care unit), RIS (radiology information system), PACS (picture archiving and communication system) and LIMS (laboratory information management system) so modernization can happen in parts while a shared data and integration foundation is built underneath.
Modernization is not a system swap
Interest is shifting from concepts to production. I spoke with university and regional hospitals running monolithic EHRs that want better access to their own data and a modular path forward that works alongside existing systems. Discussions around the openEHR‑based Lifecare Clinical Suite were especially concrete: visitors appreciated our focus on everyday usability, and I heard multiple comments about how easy the system felt to use.
In the keynote, Teemu Mäkelä’s message was equally direct: replacing a monolith with a new monolith doesn’t fix fragmented records or vendor‑driven roadmaps. Päijätsote’s focus shifted to stepwise modernization - protecting continuity of care while building long‑term flexibility.
In Päijätsote, this thinking also scaled through a regional development network: end‑user needs are captured as Feature Cards and turned into shared priorities, so development is done once and benefits multiple regions. The result is a modular way forward where capabilities can be added when needed, and innovation can move at the pace of care—not at the pace of large replacements.
An open data foundation for interoperability and innovation
A turning point is to separate clinical data from the application layer and build on open standards such as openEHR. This creates a shared, patient‑centric foundation for interoperability, so different tools can use the same structured clinical information without locking data into a single solution. Just as importantly, it strengthens data ownership: better data quality supports funding logic and reporting, while open APIs (application programming interfaces) make it practical to connect the right applications for each use case (from citizen services to local innovations) as needs evolve.
Let’s continue the conversation
If you’re facing end-of-life system pressure, interoperability gaps, or a need to modernize without disruption, I’m happy to compare notes. Reach out to discuss your modular roadmap, see production examples of open standards in practice, or explore how data platforms, clinical applications, and AI‑assisted documentation can work together in your environment.
