New models of cooperation for a nationwide healthcare platform (Swiss-KIS)

Result

In the preliminary study, five case studies of organisations/companies in highly regulated sectors were analysed and subsequently compared:

• Klinik-IT e.G. (healthcare)
• Compassana AG (healthcare)
• SIX Group AG (financial sector)
• SWIFT SC (financial sector)
• Swissgrid AG (energy sector)

The key findings are:

The comparison shows that the success of a collaboration depends less on its legal form than on a consistent alignment of ownership, use, financing and decision-making rights. Klinik-IT, SIX and SWIFT illustrate different forms of a user-owner model in which key users also assume strategic responsibility.

A common pattern is the separation of strategic governance from operational management. The participating organisations define purpose, investment priorities and standards, while a professional organisation is responsible for development and operations. As membership grows, expert committees and user groups become increasingly important.

For financing, a combination of basic contributions, usage-based fees and project-specific funding has proven effective. Uniform flat-rate models are less suitable given differences in size, usage and development priorities.

Open standards, interoperable interfaces and binding processes also serve as governance instruments. They reduce dependencies, facilitate new partnerships and support innovation, while shared core functions can be centralised without compromising the autonomy of participating institutions.

The results will now be incorporated into the further development of the project.

Description

The Swiss KIS project – a collaborative initiative between ETH Zurich, Baden Cantonal Hospital and the Ticino Cantonal Hospitals – aims to explore the feasibility of a modular, interoperable health data platform for Switzerland. The platform is intended to be organised on a non-profit basis and owned by hospitals and healthcare stakeholders, with a view to sustainably strengthening digital infrastructure, innovation and data sovereignty.

Specific systematic analyses or reviews that focus explicitly on cooperation and business models in these sectors are limited. The preliminary study aims to fill this gap by examining and summarising theoretical versus practical implementation. Furthermore, the study offers the opportunity to compile an overview of various forms of cooperation and legal and organisational barriers within the healthcare sector.

As a preliminary study, this research forms a preparatory component of the Swiss KIS project and aims to generate knowledge for the conceptual design of the governance component and the future business model. The focus is on the question of what novel cooperation and shared-service approaches between Swiss hospitals might look like in order to tap into synergies, efficiency gains and joint innovation capacity. Particular emphasis is placed on the theoretical versus practical implementation.

The aim is to identify viable approaches for cooperation models between hospitals that enable a more efficient use of resources, fair decision-making and governance processes, and sustainable ownership structures. In particular, a cooperative model is analysed in depth.

The results will feed directly into the governance and business model development of the planned Swiss KIS AG. They will form the basis for concrete participation mechanisms, valuation frameworks for financial and in-kind contributions, and sustainable financing models, thereby creating a robust foundation for the subsequent scaling and implementation of the platform.

Key data