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Krajowy Operator Chmury Medycznej (Chmura dla zdrowia), in cooperation with Asseco Poland, has released a new service - eSurveys. The solution allows clinics and doctors' offices to improve the quality of medical services. It makes it easy to conduct survey campaigns among patients and compile statistics. eSurveys make it easier to obtain necessary data from a patient before a visit, reduce service time and simplify treatment satisfaction surveys. In addition, they allow monitoring the degree of execution of therapeutic programs billed by the National Health Fund (NFZ).

eSurvey make it possible to define and manage survey templates, facilitate survey campaigns among patients and enable statistical analysis of responses. The service is available to users of the Asseco mMedica system, which is used by thousands of health care units. Patients receive access to a survey by e-mail or directly from the eRegistration portal. They can fill it out on any device such as a smartphone, computer or tablet.

A well-conducted medical survey is the basis of every doctor's work. Based on the information obtained from a patient and a patient's medical history, a doctor diagnoses and decisions. That is why it is so important that they can quickly and easily obtain this information. Our new eSurvey service, available to mMedica system users, enables that. Properly asked questions, which a patient answers before a visit, give a doctor more time during a visit, says Szymon Chamuczyński, Director of the Mass Products Department in the Health Division of Asseco Poland.

The eSurvey mechanism can also be used when conducting preventive programs. On the one hand, surveys become a source of information for patients, and on the other hand, they allow us to collect data about their participation in a given program and learn from their responses, adds Marcin Płaczek, Operations Director, Krajowy Operator Chmury Medycznej, from the Asseco Group. eSurveys also provide an opportunity to conduct surveys of patient satisfaction and needs, that support the process of improving the quality of medical services and create opportunities to increase the competitiveness of a given clinic or doctor's office, he concludes.

The eSurveys solution provides a simple and convenient registration process for the service and guarantees the security and protection of patient data. Integration with the mMedica software allows viewing survey information directly from an office visit window and including them in a patient's medical records.

For more information on the eSurvey service, please see:

https://mmedica.asseco.pl/moduly-dodatkowe/eankiety/

https://chmuradlazdrowia.pl/eankiety/

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Asseco is a leader in the market of IT solutions for healthcare and a producer of proprietary IT solutions used by more than 400 hospitals in Poland, around 40% of outpatient clinics and doctors' offices, as well as units of the National Health Fund, blood donation and haemotherapy centers and health resorts. Asseco's product portfolio includes a comprehensive IT system for large and mid-sized medical entities - Asseco Medical Management Solutions (AMMS), a solution for mid-sized and small organizations and individual medical practices - mMedica, as well as mobile applications for patients, including: Home First Aid Kit, Medical Information and My Measurements. Together with Operator Chmury Krajowej, Asseco has created the Krajowy Operator Chmury Medycznej company. Its goal is to support the digitization of healthcare and enable medical units to provide e-Services, including the creation and management of an EMD repository.

The introduction of a registered electronic delivery is another step on the road to the digitization and reduction of paper documents. e-Delivery will enable companies and individuals to send registered letters with the acknowledgment of a receipt in a digital form. The legal effect of sending correspondence electronically will be equivalent to the traditional delivery of paper documents. In addition to Poczta Polska, qualified e-Delivery solutions are also offered by commercial companies, including Asseco Data Systems.

According to the government's announcements, e-Delivery will be the primary and, for many entities, mandatory way to communicate with the public administration. The implementation process will be spread over time, but starting in 2024, all public entities (government administration, state control and law protection bodies as well as budget units serving them, the National Health Fund - NFZ, the Social Insurance Fund - ZUS, the Farmers' Social Security Fund - KRUS, universities, the Polish Academy of Sciences, local government units and their unions), as well as representatives of public trust professions and business entities corresponding with them will be obliged to implement e-Deliveries. Only already registered sole proprietorships can benefit from the vacatio legis until 2026. The absolute exception is the Justice Department, which will not have to fulfill this obligation until 2029.

Much more than "secure email"

In order to use the e-Delivery service, both companies and individuals will receive a unique electronic delivery address assigned by the Minister of Digitization. It will consist of 36 characters linked to the entity that owns it. Information about the assigned address is stored in the Electronic Address Database (BAE).

An e-Delivery address is sometimes mistakenly associated with an e-mail address. Meanwhile,  e-Delivery is a much more advanced solution with additional features and higher security. Among other things, it allows one to determine who is the sender, who is the recipient, and the identity of both parties is confirmed. In addition, the legal effect of a delivery via Registered Electronic Delivery service cannot be challenged, which means it can be used as evidence in legal proceedings. The sending process is carried out with confidentiality of information, and the date and time of sending or receiving the delivery is legally confirmed.

e-Delivery in dealing with administration, business and customers

Both a legal entity (company) and an individual will be able to set up an e-Delivery box from Asseco Data Systems. The service offered by Asseco Data Systems can be tailored to the individual needs of an organization and allows for an integration with corporate solutions, such as office or document circulation systems. It makes it possible to exchange correspondence with each party: public administration, individuals, companies.

"E-Delivery is a service that has been lacking on the Polish market. This solution will make it much easier and faster not only to conduct business, but also to deal with everyday matters. Sending correspondence will no longer depend on the working hours of post offices and its security will be much higher, as third-party interference will be completely excluded. In addition, all correspondence is available in one place with proof of posting, execution and delivery. This will be of particular importance in case of any disputes" - said Paweł Wojtaszyk, Product Manager at Asseco Data Systems. "E-Delivery is the last missing trust service defined at the EU level. This market is forming just as we speak. As a provider, we are hoping to build such a market for electronic delivery, where the synergy of public and commercial providers will encourage recipients to make extensive use of e-Delivery throughout the European Union" - he added.

According to the Asseco expert, eventually, the address for electronic delivery will be used in every administrative and judicial procedure. Public administration bodies will send all correspondence this way. If a citizen does not have an electronic delivery address, offices will use a hybrid service, that is, they will send documents electronically, which will be printed and delivered in paper form as well.

Allegro doesn't need to be introduced to anyone in Poland - it's the leader in domestic e-commerce, which is now expanding its model internationally. With Allegro Pay on the platform, it is possible to make purchases with deferred payments of up to 30 days, as well as to spread them over convenient monthly repayments. The decision to allocate funds for purchases is made even in less than a minute, thanks in part to the support of Asseco Poland, the largest IT company in the region.

The Asseco system processes all contracts made through Allegro Pay. Implemented by Allegro in 2020, the buy-now-pay-later service has been steadily gaining popularity. The number of Allegro Pay customers has already surpassed 1 million, and in the third quarter of 2022 alone, loans of PLN 1.4 billion were granted through it, up 156 percent year-on-year.

Core System as a Service

An important component of Allegro Pay is the Asseco Core Banking Solution platform, bringing ready-made solutions proven successful in the banking area and taking into account Allegro's accounting schemes. Asseco, Allegro Pay's technology partner, has provided not only computing power and relevant software, but also a team of specialists to support operations 24/7. The service is provided according to the Software as a Service (SaaS) model, developed for the needs of financial institutions, where payment is made in a subscription model.

"We are able to process 50 contracts per second. On average, this is 10 million documents per month. Among other things, the Asseco system prepares the repayment schedule, calculates and books interest, records loan disbursement, handles repayment settlement, calculates arrears, or processes booking postings. Importantly, the seller receives the entire amount right away and does not have to wait for subsequent installments paid by the buyer," explains Bartłomiej Bartosiewicz, Business Development Director at Asseco Poland. "In financial services, information security is very important. Asseco does not store any Allegro user data within its own data center infrastructure," he adds.

"Cooperation between two Polish technology companies operating internationally should be something natural," says Jakub Kachlicki, Director of Financial Services Technology at Allegro Group. "The choice of Asseco was determined by the readiness and functional maturity of the solution. It gives us the opportunity to shorten the time from idea to service launch with a reasonable level of involvement on our side in the development of the standard part of the financial product and related processes."

Further growth on the horizon

BNPL (Buy Now Pay Later) services are not only convenient for customers, but also allow merchants to attract new groups of consumers and e-commerce platforms to increase the number of transactions. According to the "Koszyk Roku 2022" report, almost 75 percent of the largest e-commerce sites offer deferred payments. Allegro experts have no doubt that the growth of BNPL payments is a clear trend in the e-commerce industry.

Asseco was ranked 5th in the "National Champions" list prepared by Polityka Insight. This is a listing of the largest Polish companies of key importance to the economy. At the same time, the company was ranked 3rd in the five-year ranking, which summarizes the results of all editions.

In addition to its high position in the main ranking, Asseco was also among the top companies in the various categories of the list. The Asseco Group is the leader in the "International" category, where it was the only one to achieve the maximum possible score. The justification emphasized that Asseco is the most rapidly growing company in the international market. The company also ranked 1st in the "Professional Services" category and 3rd in the "Economy" category, which reflects the organization's contribution to Poland's economic development.

For the past five years, we have been compiling a ranking of the largest Polish companies of key importance to the economy. Most rankings of companies compiled in Poland focus exclusively on the size of a company or capital group as measured by basic macroeconomic indicators - revenues, profit, exports or employment. However, this is only one of the dimensions emphasized in Polish public discourse about national champions. In addition to the size of companies, their productivity, role in the industry, presence on the international market or investment in development and innovation are also important. This time around, we take a particularly close look at how the role of Polish national champions in ensuring the security of the state has changed. The state is unable to replace them, and should therefore support them, said Adam Czerniak, Research Director of Polityka Insight and co-author of the report "National Champions 2022: How they take care of our security”.

The list of winners was published in the report "National Champions 2022: How they take care of our security," which was premiered during a conference on the subject. One of the experts who took part in the event was Krzysztof Dyki, CEO of ComCERT, an Asseco Group company. According to him, the technology industry should be developed on a par with other strategic branches of the Polish economy.

I don't see any reason why Poland couldn’t play the role of Israel. We have equally brilliant engineers. There is no problem for us to be manufacturers of cyber security technology, said Krzysztof Dyki. At the same time, he drew attention to the issue of investment, which is an essential element in the development of cyber security. When it comes to investments, we have a great deal to do. The level of investment determines the level of security, he concluded.

Asseco's communication with the market is top-notch, which was once again recognized in the survey of investor relations of WIG30 companies, which was organized by the "Parkiet" daily and the Chamber of Brokerage Houses (IDM). Asseco once again ranked 3rd in the part of the survey conducted among institutional investors and 4th in the one aimed at individual investors.

Good investor relations are based on teamwork. Of course, we have a separate IR department within the structures of Asseco, but in fact the team responsible for investor communication in the organization is made up of people from the reporting, controlling, marketing, PR, M&A, management office, legal office, compliance and process management department, as well as business divisions or subsidiaries. Of course, the support of the Management Board and its openness to contact with market representatives is invaluable. An IR officer alone can do little without the cooperation and involvement of others in the organization. The key to success is knowledge sharing and efficient and regular communication," said Joanna Paczkowska-Tatomir, Head of Investor Relations at Asseco Poland. In addition, conducting an effective IR policy is based on diversification and proper adjustment of communication channels and tools. At the time of the pandemic, we all functioned exclusively in the online formula. Today we operate in a hybrid model - we carry out part of our activities online, while we are very keen to participate in events that allow us to have direct contact with investors," she added.

Asseco is committed to transparency and equal access to information for all investors. As part of its regular IR activities, it organizes conferences every quarter in a hybrid mode (onsite and online). This event is available to any investor. During the conferences, the Management Board discusses the financial results of the reporting period, presents the outlook for the near future and answers questions from participants. Recordings of these events with transcripts, as well as investor materials such as presentations, fact sheets and financial data in Excel format, are published on Asseco's investor relations website. Since 2011, the company has made recordings of its General Meetings available on its website, and since 2020 it has allowed shareholders to participate in the meetings in an online format. It also maintains active communication via social media. In turn, investors can contact Asseco by emailing, calling or using platforms such as MS Teams or Zoom.

The presentation of awards to the companies rated highest in the investor relations survey took place during the Conference of the Chamber of Brokerage Houses (IDM). The winners, as every year, were selected in two parts of the survey: through votes of readers and individual investors, cast on the Parkiet daily's website, and through a questionnaire sent to financial institutions.

Poland has made great progess in the digitization of healthcare, with e-leaves and e-prescriptions being prime examples. However, there are many areas that still require joint work by legislators, medical institutions and technology partners. Krzysztof Groyecki, Vice President of the Management Board of Asseco Poland, responsible for the area of solutions for the healthcare sector, points out the most important trends and challenges in digitization.

1. Accelerating the implementation of EDM - as of January 1 of this year, the financing of services by the National Health Fund (NFZ), in the area of Primary Medical Care (POZ), will depend on the reporting of medical events to the P1 platform and, as a result, the use of Electronic Medical Records (EMD). According to the Health Ministry's announcement, the P1 platform is expected to become the exclusive source of data for billing healthcare services in the coming years. Not all facilities are fully ready for this and need the support of technology partners to help them implement the right tools. On the other hand, as Krzysztof Groyecki, Vice President of the Management Board of Asseco Poland, argues, it is also necessary to expand the EDM project itself. Ultimately, a patient's complete electronic medical record is to be available to all authorized specialists throughout Poland, regardless of where the patient is at any given time. At present, the EDM contains only part of the information and does not include, for example, medical history, as there is no precise definition of what this document covers. It is important to introduce both legislative changes and programs to encourage medical facilities to implement modern technologies.

2. Improving the ergonomics of applications for staff – up until now, most applications have been created with the aim of managing medical entities, supporting the internal processes of healthcare providers, as well as reporting and billing benefits. Meanwhile, as Krzysztof Groyecki emphasizes, these solutions should first and foremost be an effective tool in the hands of staff. "We want our applications to reduce the time and improve the quality of patient service. An example of a solution that plays just such a role are medical dashboards for doctors and nurses. Asseco's software includes pathways that allow the user to easily obtain the information necessary at a given stage of treatment."

3. Specialization of medical software - employees of different specialties working in particular areas of medical entities have their own specific needs, which are worth taking into account when creating technological solutions. According to Krzysztof Groyecki, functions of IT systems that are relevant to doctors and nurses should be available without the need to search for them among a large number of other software options. "Many of Asseco's solutions for the healthcare sector are tailor-made. We talk to representatives of individual facilities to learn about their needs and what information they would like to process digitally," Krzysztof Groyecki explains.

4. Cloud security - healthcare facilities are an extremely tempting target for cyber criminals, so it is extremely important to ensure the security of digital, sensitive medical data. It is difficult for individual hospitals or clinics to take care of the appropriate level of cyber security on their own, due to staff and budget shortages. As Krzysztof Groyecki of Asseco argues, the natural direction is to migrate to the cloud. Then its operator takes care of information security, ongoing monitoring of threats, as well as backup. An example of a solution used in Polish medical facilities is EDM in the cloud. It enables remote and secure access to data, facilitates compliance with regulations imposed on healthcare units, and eliminates the need to expand and maintain one's own infrastructure.

5. Artificial intelligence (AI) can help shorten queues to specialists - a sore point in Polish health care is the long waiting time to see a specialist. According to the Watch Health Care Foundation's (WHC) Barometer, in November 2022, it averaged about four months. Artificial intelligence can help solve this problem; while it certainly won't fix staffing shortages, it can support doctors in their daily work. There are many examples of AI use in healthcare, from digital assistants that are able to give prompts based on collected survey information, to systems that support diagnosis based on the recognition of X-ray or MRI images. As the vice president of Asseco points out, the development of telemedicine will depend on the profitability of such solutions. "If it is higher than that of stationary services, and in addition, telemedicine procedures will increasingly become part of products billed by the National Health Fund (NFZ), one can hope that this will contribute to reducing the negative effects of staff shortages," Krzysztof Groyecki concludes.