Integration at the Core of Care Coordination

Finnish health technology company Buddy Healthcare has built its care coordination solution on a scalable integration architecture. A production project implemented in the Wellbeing Services County of Satakunta demonstrates how automating appointment scheduling between patient information systems and a care coordination system can eliminate manual work and improve the flow of care pathways.

Buddy Healthcare is a Finnish health technology company operating internationally, developing a digital care coordination platform for hospitals and clinics. The company’s solution focuses on coordinating the patient journey before, during and after treatment. The goal is to reduce administrative workload, support healthcare professionals in their daily work, and enhance the patient experience through automated communication, data collection and monitoring.

Last summer, Buddy Healthcare’s care coordination system was classified as MDR Class IIa under the EU Medical Device Regulation, and it is in use across several European countries and medical specialties. With international growth, integrations with patient information systems have become an increasingly central part of the company’s technological foundation.

The integration project carried out in the Wellbeing Services County of Satakunta marked a significant technical and operational milestone for Buddy Healthcare. The project delivered a production-ready solution in which appointments are automatically transferred between patient information systems and Buddy Healthcare’s care coordination system—without manual steps.

“Previously, care pathway information, such as changes to scheduled surgery times, often had to be updated manually. This was error-prone and time-consuming for healthcare professionals. Now the information moves automatically and remains up to date,” Front explains.

The solution was implemented in an AWS-based cloud environment, where Buddy Healthcare’s Python-based backend was integrated with the InterSystems Health Connect integration platform.

InterSystems Health Connect serves as the backbone of the solution’s integrations. All connections to patient information systems are implemented in accordance with HL7 and FHIR standards.

“We had no prior experience with InterSystems’ proprietary programming language, nor was it needed here. InterSystems now supports Python, which is familiar to us, making development smooth,” Front says.

In the Satakunta project, appointment data is transferred from patient information systems to Buddy Healthcare’s system, where it is used for patient communication, guiding care phases, and monitoring.

The project was brought into production on a tight schedule during the autumn. In implementing the integrations, Buddy Healthcare received significant support from InterSystems experts. Additional expertise was brought to the team by Rescomi Oy, which acted as a consultant in the project.

“We received a great deal of practical support from sales engineers Janne and Anssi. They were actively involved in resolving integration-related issues. In addition, InterSystems’ U.S. team was closely involved, which accelerated our learning and brought confidence to the implementation,” Front says.

Buddy Healthcare’s entire infrastructure runs in an AWS environment, where Kubernetes orchestrates the container-based architecture. Together, the Python-based backend, the InterSystems integration platform, and AWS infrastructure form a scalable and reliable whole.

“AWS takes care of the infrastructure, Kubernetes orchestrates the services, and InterSystems ensures that integrations operate reliably. Python enables rapid development and flexible business logic. The division of responsibilities is very clear to us,” Front summarizes.

The project with the Wellbeing Services County of Satakunta now serves as a reference for future implementations in Finland and internationally.

“When there are many integrations across multiple customers, the overall solution no longer scales without this kind of platform and architecture. It also enables us to respond more quickly to changes, as InterSystems allows us to transform data to fit Buddy Healthcare’s interfaces. We now have a model that can be replicated in different environments,” Front says, continuing:
“Looking back, this was an extremely successful project overall. Despite a tight schedule and a lot of new technology, we completed it on time. Our end customer has been satisfied, and the solution concretely makes everyday work easier for healthcare professionals. This provides a strong foundation for expanding our collaboration further.”