“Norway’s Health Platform: A Billion-Dollar Project Stalled and Over Budget”

The introduction of the Health Platform throughout Central Norway’s healthcare system was to cost 3.7 billion. Now it will be postponed again. By the end of the year, more than four billion will have been spent – without the solution having been used by more than one hospital and a third of the municipalities.

The new record solution Helseplattform is in rough weather. The billion-dollar project was supposed to revolutionize the health sector in central Norway. This is because hospitals and municipalities should have a common system for sharing patient information.

So far it hasn’t gone particularly well. The project is beset by enormous problems. So far, only ten municipalities and one hospital have adopted it.

The resistance and criticism from health personnel has been massive. There were many warnings ahead. The Norwegian Health Authority has determined that the system poses a risk to patients. The entire process will now be scrutinized by the National Audit Office.

On Tuesday, the board of Helse Midt-Norge formally decided that further introduction will be postponed once again. The reason is that the problems are so great that it is not considered prudent to use it in several hospitals this year.

This will result in over NOK 700 million in additional costs.

Will cost over 5 billion

Getting a clear picture of how much the Health Platform is now likely to cost is not easy.

On the website of the Health Platform, you could until recently read the following wording:

Epic is the name of the American supplier of the system. The wording was to be found in the overview of information for municipalities wondering about various things about the project.

After Aftenposten asked questions about the wording, it was removed.

– This has been left hanging and was not adjusted, writes acting communications manager Frode Nikolaisen in the Helseplattformen in an e-mail.

In recent weeks, Aftenposten has tried to get an answer to what the introduction of the Health Platform is now likely to cost. The main actors partly point to each other.

Helse Midt-Norge says they can only answer for the cost increases linked to the hospitals.

Aftenposten has asked the question to Helseplattformen AS repeatedly. They have not replied, but have shown partially redacted budget documents.

A review of figures from the available documentation and the actors involved paints a picture of the costs already being far higher than previously known.

Aftenposten’s calculation now shows that the real bill for the Health Platform is already set to exceed NOK 5.1 billion.

Almost used up the budget

The reason is, among other things, that the project’s communicated cost of NOK 3.7 billion does not include expenses incurred before 2019.

By then, the Health Platform project had already been running for several years. Before 2019, NOK 500 million had been spent.

The figure of 3.7 billion also does not include increased costs due to all the delays related to the problems that have arisen in the last six months.

The extra costs for this are therefore likely to be over NOK 700 million.

During 2023, the Health Platform will initially have used up the budget that was set aside to introduce the Health Platform throughout Central Norway.

Far behind the target of introduction in Helse Midt-Norge

Originally, it was planned that the Health Platform should be put into use at all hospitals in central Norway in 2022. That did not happen.

Now it won’t be during 2023 either. It is likely that all introduction will not be completed until the end of 2024.

But we are still very far from achieving this goal.

By the end of 2023, the Health Platform expects that 19 out of 65 municipalities in central Norway will have adopted the Health Platform. This is less than 30 per cent of the municipalities in the region.

The problems and bad experiences with the system mean that politicians in several municipalities are sitting on the fence or have gotten cold feet.

The costs for the Health Platform will not necessarily stop at 5.1 billion either.

It is emphasized in board and budget documents that there is great uncertainty around both cost estimates and forecasts for the way forward.

In addition, there are several costs that do not appear clearly in various budget compilations. This applies, among other things, to extra expenses as a result of the introduction of St. Olav’s hospital, the solution to be used by GPs and some costs for introduction in the municipalities.