Digital administration processes: ÄKWL relies on a central self-service platform.
A platform-independent service portal for efficient and paperless member management.
Highlights
- Central communication hub for the efficient control and optimization of all of ÄKWL’s administrative processes
- Device-independent self-service portal for around 51,000 physicians and all healthcare partners in the Westphalia-Lippe area
- Flexible database connection for audit-proof archiving of documents
- Continuous adaptation and development into a full-service portal
- Reduction in printing volume from 7 million to 1 million pages of letters per year
Fact Sheet
| CLIENT | Ärztekammer Westfalen-Lippe [ÄKWL] |
| SECTOR | Health Care |
| HEAD OFFICE | Münster | Germany |
| EMPLOYEEs | > 330 |
| Purpose | Central voice and point of contact for 51,000 physicians and medical staff in Westphalia-Lippe |
| Partner | OVSoftware GmbH |
Missions accomplished
- Portals
- Applications
- Services
Smart technology
- Virtimo Digitalization Suite
ÄKWL goes digital: A device-independent self-service portal.
The Westphalia-Lippe Medical Association [ÄKWL] serves more than 51,000 physician members, handling far more than just administrative duties. In addition to representing the professional interests of its members, it is also responsible for the continuing medical education of physicians and organizes the training of more than 2,000 medical assistants [MAs] annually.
These services are backed by complex and multi-layered administrative processes. To manage these in an efficient and future-oriented way, ÄKWL has relied on a service portal since 2014, which was developed by OVSoftware based on Virtimo’s INUBIT software and was intentionally designed for expandability.
We are very keen on digitalizing work processes – especially while maintaining format continuity. In the past, some things were initiated digitally, but ultimately still led to countless letters being sent out. We wanted to change that fundamentally.
Ingo Schmitt
Head of IT and Director for Technology and Infrastructure | Ärztekammer Westfalen-Lippe
Modules instead of bottlenecks: a platform reimagined.
Master data management, accounting, registration, examinations of members’ specialist language and knowledge, as well as the documentation of continuing education measures – the goal was to offer all these services digitally while sustainably streamlining and optimizing internal administrative processes.
Instead of just focusing on modernizing existing systems, ÄKWL, based on the recommendation of OVSoftware, opted for a reimagined, modular platform that specifically integrates legacy systems while enabling new services.
From the very beginning, it was clear that the data model had to function as a flexible framework – a modular system on which specialized applications could be developed, expanded, and, prospectively, also be made available to external users.
Henrik Dahl
Managing Director | OVSoftware GmbH
One-stop shop: the go-to place for around 40 services.
What began as the technical basis for a modern service portal became the strategic answer to ÄKWL’s digitalization goals: OVSoftware developed a responsive web portal and implemented the Virtimo Digitalization Suite, including the low-code software INUBIT, to create a flexible foundation that not only manages internal workflows but also enables exchange with external systems.
INUBIT serves as a digital hub that connects the various databases and legacy systems, manages XML-based master data, and ensures audit-proof archiving.
With each new requirement, the platform has continued to grow: Today, it provides not only an interface to hospitals, tax accountancy firms, and continuing education providers, but also offers over 40 digital services, from documentation of training to an application service for medical ID cards – a one-stop shop for the medical association and its members.
‘Around the clock’ was our motto back then – combined with the aspiration of a true one-stop shop: a central portal for all of ÄKWL’s services. Not a patchwork of individual solutions, but an integrated system. And we stick to this principle to this day.
André Döking
Project Manager Service Portal | Ärztekammer Westfalen-Lippe
A strong foundation, a clear outlook: digitalization with foresight.
By offering digital income classification – the processing of contribution-relevant income declarations by physicians or their tax advisors – as well as a personal account for education credits, ÄKWL succeeded early on in winning over its members to the new service portal.
Today, central services are used online to almost 100%. An independent audit in 2024 recently showed that, particularly in terms of requirements management, ÄKWL is well on its way to achieving a digitalization free of format discontinuities. This is also evidenced by the fact that the annual printing volume has been reduced from seven million to about one million pages.
Nevertheless, Ingo Schmitt, Head of IT and Director for Technology and Infrastructure at ÄKWL, still sees a great deal of potential for expansion: “In addition to necessary infrastructure updates, we see accessibility, cloud solutions, and IT security as some of our biggest challenges for the future.”
So it’s a good thing that the foundation is solid – and that ÄKWL has OVSoftware and Virtimo by their side as two strong partners in continuing to think ahead about what modern administrative portals must achieve today and tomorrow.
We are delighted to have won ÄKWL as a client in collaboration with our partner OVSoftware. The fact that our software has been the stable foundation and the heart of the medical association’s portal for over ten years now shows that the decision to rely on INUBIT as an integration and process control platform was exactly the right one.
Steffen Lehmann
Head of Sales | Virtimo AG
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