Development partnership on equal terms

As the leading digitalisation partner for statutory health insurance, BITMARCK bears a crucial responsibility for the digital foundation of the German healthcare system. From software development to the secure operation of critical infrastructures, the company drives digitalisation in the industry and among its customers with innovative products and services. Around 1,900 employees throughout Germany create pioneering solutions for health insurance companies and their policyholders.

BITMARCK GmbH is developing the GKV standard BITMARCK_21c|ng for statutory health insurance companies with the support of adesso.

BITMARCK operates at the heart of a highly complex and dynamic market. The challenges posed by the further development of BITMARCK_21c|ng and related services are multifaceted:

• Regulatory pressure and legal requirements: The statutory health insurance sector is highly regulated. Laws from SGB V, SGB VII or gematik requirements for the telematics infrastructure (TI) require continuous and often short-term adjustments to core systems and digital services.
• Technological change and modernisation: The heart of GKV IT, the BITMARCK_21c|ng inventory management system, must be transformed from a monolithic to a future-proof, agile microservice architecture. This is crucial to ensure interoperability (e.g. via HL7 FHIR), shorten innovation cycles and reduce the time-to-market for new products.
• High expectations of insured persons: Today's insured persons expect digital services that are intuitive, fast and secure. A modern service app such as the industry standard bitGo_App or a user-friendly online portal bitGo_Web are no longer optional extras, but a must in order to remain competitive in the health insurance market.
• Operational reliability and scalability: The systems operated by BITMARCK manage the sensitive data of millions of insured persons and are partly classified as critical infrastructure (KRITIS). Fail-safe, high-performance and highly secure 24/7 operation is therefore essential.
• Cost efficiency: Statutory health insurance companies operate under high cost pressure. They therefore expect innovative and high-quality solutions that must be provided economically and efficiently.

To meet these challenges, adesso is providing BITMARCK with significant support in the further development of the GKV standard BITMARCK_21c|ng in order to create a modern and future-proof technological platform. This support covers a broad portfolio of services:

• Software development and application modernisation: adesso actively supports BITMARCK in the transformation of the core application BITMARCK_21c|ng. Together, numerous new functions are being developed and implemented to optimise the business processes of statutory health insurers. Through the development of microservices in modern tech stacks, the monolithic structure is being gradually broken down to create the necessary agility for future requirements.
• Development of service apps: To achieve greater market penetration, adesso is supporting BITMARCK in the development of a white label app (WLA). This bundles existing services from the GesundheitsCockpit (GeCo), individual health insurance fund offers and future SDK integrations. The support covers key areas such as medication information, pregnancy and maternity, and symptom and diagnosis information.
• User centricity as a success factor: UX integration: adesso advises BITMARCK on the integration of UX processes in agile product development, whereby design solutions (wireframes, mock-ups, prototypes) are created in accordance with standards such as DIN EN ISO 9241-110 and WCAG 2.1.
• Secure implementation of complex IT requirements: In the context of IT, adesso provides support in various central sub-projects. BITMARCK acts here partly as a manufacturer and partly as a provider and must carry out the implementation on the basis of gematik specifications. The support provided by adesso includes:

  • Electronic patient records (ePA): Support in implementing the central digital storage location for personal health data, which improves the quality of medical care.
  • IT messenger (TI-M): Participation in the realisation of a secure and direct communication service between service providers, which is intended to replace insecure methods such as fax.
  • Communication in the medical sector (KIM): Support in the implementation of a secure e-mail service for the legally binding exchange of sensitive medical documents.
  • Insured person master data management (VSDM): Assistance with the implementation of online verification and updating of insured person master data on the electronic health card.

• Process automation and action control: adesso supports BITMARCK in the development of and consulting on the Aktionssteuerung|ng solution. This enables the automation of statutory health insurance processes, which means faster processing of transactions for health insurance companies while simultaneously increasing cost efficiency.
• Quality assurance and test automation: In such a sensitive environment, the highest software quality is crucial. adesso supports BITMARCK by implementing professional test strategies and automating test processes. This helps to ensure the stability of the complex system landscape during continuous further development.

The cooperation between BITMARCK and adesso transcends a traditional customer-service provider relationship and manifests itself as a strategic partnership that supports BITMARCK in expanding its leading market position. The collaboration leads to measurable advantages and concrete successes that result directly from the services provided:

• 1. Holistic modernisation and agility: The combined expertise in transforming the core system BITMARCK_21c|ng and developing modern health apps has resulted in comprehensive modernisation. The agile microservice architecture in the backend, coupled with a flexible app platform, increases the future viability and responsiveness of the entire product portfolio.
• 2. Increased innovation and competitiveness: adesso's technological excellence and strategic UX consulting enable BITMARCK to design innovative digital services more quickly and bring them to market. The new white label app and the automation of processes through Aktionssteuerung|ng are concrete examples that give health insurance companies a clear competitive advantage.
• 3. Improved user experience and policyholder loyalty: The consistent integration of UX processes and the development of user-centred applications significantly increase policyholder satisfaction. Intuitive apps and services strengthen the position of health insurance companies that rely on BITMARCK solutions in attracting policyholders.
• 4. Efficient and secure implementation of regulatory requirements: adesso's in-depth expertise in telematics infrastructure ensures that complex and security-critical projects such as ePA, KIM or TI Messenger are implemented on time and in accordance with specifications, allowing BITMARCK to focus on its core tasks.

In summary, it can be said that adesso makes an important contribution to the success of BITMARCK through its combination of technological excellence, in-depth industry know-how and a partnership-based approach. The partnership thus underpins the position of both companies as key players in the digital transformation of the German healthcare system.