Enhancing patient care at Oslo University Hospital

KPMG teams worked with functional healthcare professionals and collaborated closely with Oslo University Hospital to develop a tech-based platform to automate and digitize surgery scheduling processes. KPMG leveraged ServiceNow’s flexible, cloud-based platform to build ‘health flow optimizer’ — designed to streamline patient flow and scheduling across all of the hospital’s facilities.

Leveraging the ServiceNow Platform with low/no-code development tools for extensibility, the health flow optimizer was designed to deliver benefits that extend well beyond surgical planning. Its ability to automate and streamline processes and workflows means that it can have a positive effect on patient outcomes and experiences, and those of the clinical teams working at the hospital.

With the integration of a cloud-based digital twin, the hospital can simulate and prepare for contingencies, develop plans and build confidence in facing scenarios such as a sudden influx of patients. Knowing the hospital’s pinch points in this way also helps capacity planning in areas like personnel, operating theaters and equipment, and eases the complexity of future investment planning, too.

The potential doesn’t end there, as KPMG, with ServiceNow, has made it possible for advanced use cases with machine learning and predictive analytics to be added to further improve patient outcomes and experiences, and clinician experiences.

With the help of KPMG in Norway and ServiceNow, Oslo University Hospital is well on its way to reaching its operating theater productivity targets. The hospital has a single surgery scheduling platform tailored to areas where there is potential for automation, and integrated with existing hospital systems, including eHR systems.

The current target for the project is to achieve a 14% increase in the utilization of its operating theaters, resulting in a potential increased income of US$ 35 million per year.

It’s a testament to the value potential of transformation, and the health flow optimizer is capable of much more than just scheduling surgeries. It can help to improve patient communication and security, identify procedures most at risk of cancellations with intelligent algorithms, model scenarios for industry best practice, reduce administrative burdens and bottlenecks, and even manage the proliferation of medical devices.

This patient-centric transformation continues to harness the power of AI to reduce administrative workloads and automate workflows, to decrease bottlenecks and enhance data accuracy. It enables staff to use data, stored securely in the cloud, to further guide processes and deliver better patient outcomes and more enjoyable clinician experiences, allowing experienced and knowledgeable clinicians to focus on patient care, not administrative roadblocks.

The strategic vision for Oslo University Hospital will involve the building of AI agents that are transparent, ethical, secure and aligned with the goal of further improving patient care and expeditious outcomes, aiming to enhance confidence and trust in the organization and its partners.