Without IT, there can be no integrated care
The Siloah Network in Gümligen supports older adults throughout the entire healthcare continuum: acute geriatric care, rehabilitation, long-term care, home health care, and therapy.
Martin Gafner, President of the Siloah Foundation and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Siloah AG, explains why this model relies on IT and what he looks for in an IT partner.
One patient, many wards
Martin Gafner explains integrated care using an example. An 86-year-old man falls and suffers a fracture. He is admitted to Siloah, undergoes surgery the next day at one of the external partner orthopedic hospitals, and then returns to Gümligen: to rehabilitation or, if he has multiple medical conditions, to the acute geriatric unit. If he cannot go home immediately afterward, he stays in the long-term care unit for therapy. Finally, he returns home, supported by Spitex, outpatient physical therapy, and his primary care physician.
“Bringing all of this together—that’s integrated care,” says Gafner. For him, this includes medicine, nursing, and patient care in equal measure. The challenge: Along the patient’s care pathway, the various stages are interdependent, but legally they are separate entities. Reports and findings must still flow freely. “If this doesn’t happen through a sensible, formalized process, it drives up healthcare costs massively.”
When all the icons are black
Siloah has experienced firsthand just how dependent its operations are on IT. Following a cyberattack on an external service provider, the network had to completely overhaul its IT infrastructure. Hospitals rely on lab results, imaging, and documentation on an ongoing basis. “On the day the IT system goes down and all applications are offline, we come to a standstill.” The long-term care unit was able to temporarily switch to paper, but the hospital could hardly do so.
Siloah decided to outsource its infrastructure to Sharp DX and migrate it to the ORIA Cloud. Security was part of the project from the very beginning. Gafner doesn't sugarcoat it: The transition was challenging and demanded a lot from everyone involved.
A Platform Instead of Isolated Solutions
For Martin Gafner, IT is not a cost center, but rather a prerequisite for stable and healthy growth. As a bank manager, he witnessed how Valiant grew out of a merger of more than 40 banks. This was made possible by a shared IT infrastructure. He sees the same logic at Siloah: The hospital sector can hardly be expanded any further, while the long-term care sector is consolidating, with more nursing homes being added. “Without a platform, we can’t scale.”
This applies even to everyday life. If you serve about a thousand lunches a day and use unsuitable ordering systems, you’ll end up with incorrect figures in your accounting.
Trust Before the Contract
When choosing a partner, price isn’t Gafner’s top priority. During the crisis, he needed people he trusted both professionally and personally, and a solid foundation for his next decision. The same applies to the provider: what’s agreed upon with a handshake stands. A deal conducted through the SaaS model, without ever seeing anyone in person, doesn’t align with his understanding of partnership. At the same time, Siloah has invested heavily in its own IT team to ensure it has competent people to work with its partner. “It’s always about the people. Always.”
What Remains
The crisis has changed Siloah. Knowledge that used to reside in the minds of individual employees is now documented. Employees are much more careful with data and emails, and the topic is regularly revisited. Gafner himself manages the group using key performance indicators that are available in a timely manner: “The wrong information at the wrong time leads to wrong decisions.”
Sharp DX for Siloah
• ORIA Cloud Infrastructure
• Design and migration of the IT environment
• Highly available and redundant architecture
• Security Services
• Managed IT Services
• Service Desk and On-Site Support
• Project Management and Transformation Support
• Integration of multiple organizational units and locations
Read the full interview with Martin Gafner: [ Link]
“I really enjoy working with Sharp DX. The collaboration is based on partnership, is solution-oriented, and involves close, direct communication. It’s not a traditional customer-supplier relationship. The productive phase got off to a smooth start. Everything is running smoothly. There are direct points of contact who address any issues that arise immediately.”
, Corden Pharma International Switzerland GmbH
Operation: clear responsibilities and direct communication
Even during the transition phase, CordenPharma and Sharp DX defined which party would assume responsibility for which IT components. While a small team at CordenPharma remains responsible for the line-of-business applications, the local network, end devices, and end-user support, Sharp DX operates all other elements from the ORIA Enterprise Cloud. Sharp DX uses what are known as “Service Operation Packages.” Under this model, Sharp DX assumes full operational responsibility for the services to which the packages apply. This includes the service desk, second-level support for troubleshooting, and operational services—such as monitoring and reporting—along with a comprehensive service management and governance model.
The team at CordenPharma is not dealing with an anonymous entity when it comes to operational collaboration. Quite the contrary. Everyone at Sharp DX who holds operational responsibility is accessible, known by name, part of the Sharp DX team, and always ready to communicate directly with CordenPharma representatives and implement suggestions and changes.
About CordenPharma
CordenPharma is a CDMO partner that supports biotech and pharma innovators of complex modalities in advancing their drug development cycle. Leveraging the collective expertise of teams across its globally integrated network of sites, CordenPharma provides customized outsourcing services for the entire supply chain. From the early clinical development phase through to commercialization.
With scientific expertise and partnership at its core, CordenPharma offers its customers high quality end-to-end services with a strategic focus on peptides, oligonucleotides, customized lipid excipients, lipid nanoparticles, sterile injectables and the extensive range of small molecules (both high potency and normal potency).
The CordenPharma Group consists of 12 facilities in Europe and North America.
A big thank you to CodenPharma and especially to the project team for the partnership-based, solution-oriented collaboration. We have learned a lot that will help us move forward!
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