Fewer barriers and greater scalability: Ten solutions begin support program to facilitate access to Catalan healthcare system

Shortening timelines, avoiding fragmented pathways and establishing clear routes for implementation in the Catalan public healthcare system. These are the key needs expressed by the ten innovative solutions selected in the first INNOPASS call of the Healthcare System Access Program (PASS). 

The ten innovations —with mature solutions in biotechnology, digital health, medical devices and advanced diagnostics— agreed that the technology is no longer the challenge; now it’s adoption: how to make the solutions cost efficient, integrate them into existing systems, fit them into procurement models and scale up beyond isolated pilot projects. 

During the session organized by Biocat and the other program promoters —the Catalan Health Service (CatSalut) and the Agency for Health Quality and Assessment of Catalonia (AQuAS)— with collaboration from TIC Salut Social Foundation, the ten innovations highlighted a shared difficulty: the complexity of the public system and the need for a more structured pathway to access healthcare centers. 

In this regard, they all particularly valued having access to a program that provides support to facilitate assessment, adoption and connection with key stakeholders in the Catalan healthcare system, allowing them to move toward scalability without duplicating efforts. “Many of you would probably make it into the system anyway. We’re trying to make sure you don’t have to knock on so many doors and help make your path easier, more streamlined and efficient,” noted Biocat CEO Robert Fabregat. Fabregat also emphasized a countrywide challenge: ensuring that innovation is not limited to major centers, that it is rolled out “more evenly and equitably” throughout Catalonia and the SISCAT system, strengthening connections among centers.

Clinical evidence, impact and scalability

Many of the solutions already have clinical results, hospital pilot programs and cost–benefit analyses —most are at TRL 7–8— but need support to complete, structure or anticipate the evidence the system requires for adoption decision-making. 

AQuAS Director Sandra García-Armesto highlighted that the agency’s services focus on anticipating and organizing this evidence: “At AQuAS we don’t make adoption decisions; we help give service providers the information they need to make informed decisions. We work with European standards to identify evidence gaps, provide guidance on how to generate that evidence and prepare solutions so they are ready to undergo assessment and procurement processes with greater and better guarantees.” 

Another recurring message was the desire to scale up their products and reach patients around Catalonia, regardless of where they are treated. This is particularly relevant for solutions impacting early diagnosis, treatment personalization or care processes, where the solutions warned that non-adoption also comes at a cost in terms of health, efficiency and equity. 

The TIC Salut Social Foundation emphasized these aspects, especially in the fields of digital health and artificial intelligence. According to Carme Pratdepàdua, head of the Foundation’s mHealth.cat Office, “We support companies so that their solutions meet requirements for security, privacy, accessibility and technological robustness, and so that artificial intelligence algorithms are reliable and transparent. The goal is to facilitate integration into the system and build trust among professionals and the general public.” 

CatSalut highlighted that PASS helps identify solutions aligned with the system’s priority challenges and provides collaborative support to foster their maturation and real world impact. “The program gives us a structured way to identify solutions aligned with priority challenges and offer a collaborative support space that promotes their maturation and impact in clinical practice,” said Assumpta Ricart, manager of integrated health processes in the Healthcare Services Department of the Catalan Health Service. 

CatSalut also emphasized a key point for the solutions: there is no automatic commitment to procurement or reimbursement, but there is a willingness to work together so that, if after one year the solutions remain prioritized and demonstrate results, viable implementation pathways can be identified within the complexity of the system.

Personalized needs

During the round of presentations, the innovations outlined their specific needs. ADmit Therapeutics highlighted the need to better understand the pathway for their early diagnosis solution to reach memory units in public hospitals; Aims Medical focused on scaling up their dysphagia screening tool for hospitalized elderly patients around Catalonia; and Aniling stressed the importance of knowing how to structure the adoption process, starting with a first adopting center and avoiding new barriers.

Additionally, eVISIO (Empordà Health Foundation) pointed out the need for regulatory guidance —they don’t yet have CE marking— and to be able to conduct a test to scale in their reference area to generate further evidence of the tool’s impact, particularly on reducing and optimizing referrals from primary to specialized care. Inbiomotion noted the need to standardize implementation and adoption processes for their test within the system, as well as gaining greater institutional visibility. 

Other projects like LoopDX requested access to validated assessments and shared standards to facilitate hospital adoption; Mediktor asked for support in identifying scaling pathways and adapting its value proposition to the public system; MiWEndo Solutions wants to strengthen its economic evidence and review its value model; Signatera (Palex Medical) needs a better understanding of the mechanisms to access the system; and Reveal Genomics said that they need the tools to reach patients equitably throughout the region and to get CE marking.