Digital Pregnancy Care Solution

- THE PROJECT HAS BEEN COMPLETED -  

The project was initiated to contribute to achieving the four objectives of the maternity care package: tailored care pathways, high-quality birthing facilities, a healthy working environment, and improved digital accessibility.  

The project aimed to develop a digital solution offering:

• A flexible and targeted service tailored to the individual pregnant woman's needs and risk factors.
• A coherent patient pathway across sectors, including a solution that supports collaboration and information sharing between midwives and health visitors. 
• A particular focus on early and preventive efforts, especially for socially vulnerable mothers, and alignment with care provided by municipal health services - for instance to prevent postpartum depression.
• Greater involvement of the pregnant woman and her partner.  

Purpose

The Danish healthcare system aims to create a flexible and individualized digital pregnancy care pathway with seamless data flow across sectors.

The following strategic goals were identified:  

• The pregnant women should be engaged in their own care pathways across sectors, enhancing digital communication while ensuring secure and transparent data usage.
• The healthcare system should be cohesive with coordinated care pathways that streamline tasks and foster collaboration.
• Data management should be secure and transparent, with a focus on maintaining high data quality.

Background

The Ministry of Health’s ‘Digital Health Strategy 2018–2022’ included an initiative to conduct a preliminary analysis of solutions for the development, implementation, and dissemination of a digital solution for pregnancy care.  

By replacing the paper-based pregnancy journal with a digital solution, pregnancy-related information should be accessible to relevant healthcare professionals, including general practitioners, midwives, and health visitors, ensuring continuity of care.

Under the Ministry of Health’s maternity care package "A Good and Safe Start to Life," DKK 20 million was allocated to this project. The project aims to support seamless data flow, replace existing paper-based records, provide pregnant women with access to their information via platforms such as Sundhed.dk, and eventually give healthcare professionals access through local systems.  

The Digital Solution

In 2018 QUARTZ/Rambøll conducted the Digital Solution for Pregnancy Care analysis, detailing existing challenges and proposing a technical solution to support pregnancy care in the future, to be used across primary care practices, hospitals, municipal health services, as well as the pregnant women.  

QUARTZ/Rambøll presented the solution in February 2019. The project proposal was approved by the National Board for Health IT. 

The traditional paper-based maternity journal and records will be replaced by a digital pregnancy folder, ensuring accessible data for both pregnant women and healthcare professionals. The creation of the app was carried out in collaboration with Trifork, selected as the supplier for the pregnancy folder, app, and framework solution.  

Organisation

In 2022, the project entered a new phase, with project management transitioning to the Danish Health Data Authority.  

From 2018 to 2022, the project was managed under the National Board for Health IT. A steering group managed the project, representing the Ministry of Health, Danish Regions, Local Government Denmark (KL), Danish Organisation of General Practitioners (PLO), the Danish Health Data Authority, representatives from regional IT management, and the Danish Health Authority.  

Due to numerous overlaps with other projects and programmes, a coordination forum was established where project managers could discuss intersecting areas.  

From the start, there was substantial involvement of clinicians contributing knowledge about maternity care and workflows through reference groups and workgroups. ‘The Digital Solution for Pregnancy Care’ was structured as a project with several sub-projects that were continuously adapted to the development of the main initiative.

Steering Committee – Until November 2022

• Stine Sønderby Bonde, Ministry of the Interior and Health of Denmark (Chairman for the steering committee).
• Jane Gyberg Rasmussen, The Danish Health Data Authority.
• Helle Høy Simonsen Hansen, Head Midwife, North Denmark Regional Hospital, Department of Women’s Diseases, Pregnancy and Birth, representing clinicians.
• Olav Bjørn Petersen, obstetrician, Copenhagen University Hospital, representing clinicians.
• Christian Mercado, Head of User-oriented Innovations, Health Innovation Centre of Southern Denmark.
• Liv Lyngå von Folsach, Head Physician, The Danish Health Authority.
• Trine Cecilie Jeppesen, Physician, Charman for The Danish Organization of General Practitioners (PLO) IT and data department.
• Astrid Christine Jensen-Kanstrup, Local Government Denmark (KL).
• Marika Jensen, Head of healthcare, speech and language therapists and psychologists in Glostrup municipality.
• Christina Marie Hansen, Centre for IT and Medical Technology (CIMT), Capital Region of Denmark.
• Lars Hulbæk, CEO, MedCom.

Deliverables

Until the project phase transition in November 2022, Health Innovation Centre of Southern Denmark held overall project management responsibilities:

• Management of the analysis project (completed in early 2019). 
• Identification of sub-projects. 
• Preparation of project descriptions for sub-projects. 
• Secretariat services for the steering group, working group, reference group, and coordination forum. 
• Development of a communication plan. 
• Coordination between sub-projects.

Partners

• Ministry of the Interior and Health of Denmark
• Danish Regions 
• Local Government Denmark (KL) 
• Danish Organization of General Practitioners (PLO)
• MedCom 
• Danish Health Data Authority 
• Danish Health Authority
• Health Innovation Centre of Southern Denmark