If you make a gesture to represent a phone, what do you do?
During the customers On the day of HCI CRS, Managing Director Mark Wolffenbuttel opened the afternoon session with this question. The audience's answer? Nearly a hundred people raised their thumbs and little fingers and held them to their ears.
Mark smiles and says that he asked his child the same question. The child held his hand flat in front of him. To him, a telephone is no longer a receiver, but a screen.
The example shows how quickly habits change. What is taken for granted today already looks different a few years later. This also applies to the EHR that healthcare professionals work with every day. That is why HCI CRS has been developing together with customers for 26 years. Ideas originate in practice, are developed together, and are only included in the planning schedule when they actually contribute to daily practice.
Daily practice determines the next step
After the opening, Jonatan van Groos, Head of Commerce, asks the audience which functionalities they would like to see added to the EHR. Within seconds, the first answers appear on the screen. The more often a topic is mentioned, the larger it becomes.
Annual evaluations immediately catch the eye, but management information is also frequently mentioned. Chris-Jan van Schendel, Head of Product, uses the results as a starting point for the conversation with the customers in the room. He probes further. Why is a particular functionality important? What challenges do healthcare professionals face in their daily work? And which wishes do they hear recurring time and again?
These conversations help HCI CRS determine what the team works on next. This ensures that new developments align well.
The EHR continues to evolve Before the new developments are discussed, Mark demonstrates just how extensive the EHR has become. Over the past 26 years, the platform has grown step by step based on questions and experiences from the field. The overview makes it clear that the developments presented during the customer day build upon a platform that has been evolving together with customers for years.
AI supports the daily workday
From the conversations in the room, the topic naturally turns to AI. Chris-Jan demonstrates how SmartAI is developing step by step within the EHR. The speech-to-text function is now available. The next step is already on the roadmap as well. Healthcare professionals will soon be able to ask the file questions. When did I last prescribe medication? What did we discuss last time? Which measurements have been taken recently? AI makes it possible to get an immediate answer to your question.
The next step in the planning is a smart daily kick-off. Mark demonstrates how AI will soon support healthcare professionals at the start of their workday. The system prepares appointments, summarizes previous conversations, and identifies which registrations or actions still require attention. To do this, AI uses information already available within the EHR. This gives healthcare professionals an immediate overview of what is important for the day, without having to consult various screens or modules themselves.
Make better use of what is already there
The EHR now includes functionalities for client files, scheduling, billing, reporting, the client portal, security features, and integrations with other systems, among others. However, many organizations use only a portion of these on a daily basis. Therefore, HCI CRS is working on a functionality scan that provides insight into which components are already being used and which functionalities could be utilized even better.
The EHR in your pocket
Next, Chris takes Jan is back over for a demonstration of the Healthcare Providers App. He is using a test version on his phone because the production version does not allow screen recording. Patient data should not be visible on a screen where others can see what is happening. Therefore, photos taken from within the app go directly into the patient file and are not stored on the phone.
The app integrates with the EHR that users are already familiar with. The calendar looks the same, and existing authorizations are automatically maintained. As a result, you only see the clients for whom you have access rights. From the same environment, you can make calls, navigate, create and view reports, schedule appointments, and add documents.
SmartAI will also be included in the app. Jonatan explains that new AI functionalities are first reviewed by Apple and Google before becoming available through the app stores.
From information to insight
During the poll, another wish clearly emerged. Organizations want to gain faster insight into the information already present in the EHR.
Jonatan demonstrates how business intelligence represents the next step in this process. The information is already available in the EHR and can also be exported to Excel. Additionally, with business intelligence, reports become visually and interactively available within the EHR.
Managers gain immediate insight into management information, and new opportunities are also emerging for healthcare professionals to gain insight into information more quickly.
After the explanation, Mark addresses the audience again. He asks if organizations that have developed their own dashboards or Power BI environments would be willing to share their knowledge. These practical experiences help HCI CRS to further develop the EHR.
Data under control
A question regarding AI and capacity also comes from the audience. What happens to the performance of the system when healthcare professionals start using the EHR with AI more and more often?
Mark explains that HCI CRS deliberately carries out AI development in-house. The in-house server farm offers sufficient capacity to support AI applications and gives HCI CRS control over the data being processed. Cloud applications are only deployed where this complies with laws and regulations, privacy requirements, and certifications.
Continue developing together
At the end of the session, Mark returns to the thought with which he began. The world is constantly changing, and the EHR is changing with it.
That is why HCI CRS remains in dialogue with the people who work with it every day. Through user groups, an online community, and conversations with customers, the team continues to gather what is happening in practice. These insights help determine which developments are included in the schedule.