Technological innovation is often seen as the solution to the growing pressure on healthcare. But according to Karel Loerts, director of KALCIO Healthcare, that’s a misconception. During his session “True Innovation in Healthcare Is About Integration” at Zorg & ICT, he states unequivocally: “Digitization simply doesn’t work in healthcare.” The reason? A lack of focus on integration.
In his session, Loerts aims to offer insight into the value of integration in innovation. Innovation is more than introducing technology. According to Loerts, a new working method or tool, no matter how advanced, can even lead to additional workload if it does not connect well with practice. "It is important that you really listen to the people who have to work with it: doctors, specialists, nurses. Without attention to adoption, innovation misses the mark."
Value for Healthcare Professionals
Loerts therefore defines innovation as the introduction of something new that adds value for healthcare professionals, doctors, and patients. “It’s nice to introduce a robot into the workplace. But if you haven’t thought through exactly what it’s for, it’s useless. So when it comes to innovation, it’s essential to focus on adoption—that is, listening to what the user really needs. There needs to be a good balance between resources and people.”
Healthcare is under pressure from multiple sources, according to Loerts: tight budgets, complex laws and regulations, technological developments and a growing staff shortage. This leads to a deluge of innovations - from 3D printers for drugs to AI and diagnostic devices - that, however, rarely lead to better or more accessible care. "We need to get back to basics: the patient," he said.
If innovations don’t help
Loerts illustrates this with a poignant example of a patient, Dave, whom he knew personally. Dave was being treated for kidney disease, which required him to undergo dialysis. But when he failed to recover after surgery and the dialysis wasn’t working, a CT scan and ten months of hospital treatment revealed that he had colon cancer. Two weeks later, he was dead. All these innovations combined were unable to help him. “Why didn’t the doctors catch it sooner?” Loerts wonders. “What if healthcare professionals from internal medicine, diagnostics, and oncology had discussed his case in a multidisciplinary team (MDT) meeting? What if the care pathways hadn’t been separated? And what if IT and medical technology were more integrated and AI already existed?”
Toward Greater Integration
The healthcare IT revolution began around 2000 and has grown rapidly since then. Many systems have now been implemented and function reasonably well, but data exchange lags behind. Loerts therefore advocates a radical change of course: "We must move toward complete integration. To care without walls, care paths that connect seamlessly, with more control for the patient and more confidence for the healthcare professional. Why can't specialists have more control over their own scheduling? Patients now die because they end up in the wrong place in the care pathway. That has to change. To do that, we have to move towards a complete integration of care and we have to start thinking more from the chain."
How do you get people on board?
And that means focusing more on the users. “All the innovations we implement are done within an existing environment. We therefore need to consider how innovation is adopted—how can we get the people in that environment up to speed on the changes as quickly as possible?”
“Innovations are often developed without involving the people who will have to work with them. That leads to friction. Technically, you can be proud of a solution, but if professionals keep working the same way they always have, nothing will change.” Loerts therefore advocates a step-by-step approach. “Integration requires collaboration at all levels—horizontal, vertical, and transmural. Prioritize adoption, and work in a data-driven way rather than just retrieving data. Data can help us predict and act proactively.”
There is agreement in the room: real progress in healthcare does not require yet another innovation, but better integration. With small steps to bring people along. Because only together can technology and people bring improvement.
Karel Loerts is CEO of KALCIO Healthcare. KALCIO is organizing FMIR at Royal Jaarbeurs in Utrecht on June 3 and 4, 2025. FMIR stands for Future of Medical Imaging and Radiotherapy.
