PICASO · Project

Integrated Care Platform That Coordinates Treatment for Patients with Multiple Chronic Conditions

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Imagine you have a parent who sees a heart specialist, a rheumatologist, and a physiotherapist — and none of them talk to each other. Each doctor prescribes their own treatment without knowing what the others are doing, which can lead to dangerous drug interactions or conflicting advice. PICASO built a digital platform that connects all these caregivers into one shared view of the patient, including a private cloud where the patient's own data stays secure. It also gives patients tools to manage their own care plans and stay on track between appointments.

By the numbers

consortium partners across Europe

countries involved in development and testing

total project deliverables produced

iterative versions of the Integrated Care Platform

SME partners in the consortium

33%

industry participation ratio in consortium

The business problem

What needed solving

Patients with multiple chronic conditions — like someone managing both heart disease and Parkinson's — see many different specialists who rarely coordinate with each other. This leads to conflicting treatments, dangerous drug interactions, unnecessary hospital readmissions, and rising costs. Healthcare providers lack a unified platform to share patient information securely across departments and organizations while keeping the patient informed and in control.

The solution

What was built

The project built a complete Integrated Care Platform (delivered in 3 iterative versions), a Patient Private Cloud for secure personal health data, Care Management and Design Tools for clinicians, cloud-based data management infrastructure with public-private cloud integration, and standardized data models. All components were installed and tested in clinical trial settings across multiple sites.

Audience

Who needs this

Health IT vendors building care coordination or EHR systemsHospital networks managing multi-morbid patient populationsRegional health authorities implementing integrated care programsHealth insurers seeking to reduce chronic care costs through better coordinationTelemedicine companies expanding into chronic disease management

Business applications

Who can put this to work

Healthcare IT / Digital Health

mid-size

Target: Health IT companies building electronic health record systems or care coordination platforms

If you are a health IT vendor struggling to support care coordination across multiple specialties — this project developed a full Integrated Care Platform with three iterative versions, a Patient Private Cloud for secure data storage, and Care Management and Design Tools that let clinicians build personalized care plans for patients with conditions like cardiovascular disease, Parkinson's, and rheumatologic disorders. The platform was tested through clinical trials across 7 countries.

Hospital Networks / Integrated Care Providers

enterprise

Target: Hospital groups and regional health authorities managing chronic disease populations

If you are a hospital network dealing with repeated admissions from patients who have multiple chronic conditions — this project built cloud-based tools that connect health, rehabilitation, and social care professionals into a single workflow. The system was designed to reduce hospital admissions by improving adherence to care plans and automating care coordination across 9 consortium partners spanning cardiology, physiotherapy, and pharmaceutical management.

Insurance / Managed Care

enterprise

Target: Health insurance companies and managed care organizations looking to reduce chronic care costs

If you are a health insurer facing rising costs from multi-morbid patients who cycle through emergency rooms and specialists — this project created a care management platform specifically targeting cost-effective care through better collaboration between professionals. The platform includes tools for personalized care programmes and automated workflows, tested through trial installations that went through three development cycles.

Frequently asked

Quick answers

What would it cost to license or deploy this platform?

The project was publicly funded as an EU Research and Innovation Action, so the core technology was developed with public money. Licensing terms would need to be negotiated directly with the consortium, led by Fraunhofer. Based on available project data, no commercial pricing has been published.

Can this scale to serve an entire regional health system?

The platform was designed as a Europe-wide Continuum of Care service and was tested across 7 countries with trial installations that went through three iterative versions. The architecture uses both private and public cloud components, which suggests it was built with scalability in mind, though deployment beyond pilot sites would require further integration work.

Who owns the intellectual property?

IP from EU-funded RIA projects is typically retained by the consortium partners who created it. Fraunhofer, as coordinator, would be the primary contact for licensing discussions. The consortium includes 2 SMEs and 3 industry partners who may hold rights to specific components.

How does this handle patient data privacy and GDPR?

The project specifically built a Patient Private Cloud to keep sensitive health data under patient control, separate from the public cloud components used for general data management. This architecture suggests privacy-by-design principles were central to the platform. Detailed GDPR compliance documentation would need to be requested from the consortium.

How long would it take to integrate with our existing hospital IT systems?

The platform went through three major development iterations over 3 years, with dedicated deliverables for Private and Public Cloud Integration and Data Models and Shared Memory Objects Structures. These suggest the team built standardized interfaces, but integration timelines would depend heavily on your existing infrastructure. The trial installations across multiple sites provide evidence of real-world deployment experience.

What medical conditions does this cover?

The platform was specifically designed and tested for patients with multi-morbidity, covering cardiovascular diseases, Parkinson's disease, rheumatology, physiotherapy needs, and pharmaceutical drug management. The care models were built to handle patients who have several of these conditions simultaneously.

Is this still actively maintained or supported?

The project ended in June 2019. Ongoing development or commercial support would depend on whether individual consortium partners — particularly Fraunhofer or the 2 SME partners — continued work beyond the project funding period. The project website at picaso-project.eu may have updates on current status.

Consortium

Who built it

The PICASO consortium brings together 9 partners from 7 countries, led by Fraunhofer — one of Europe's largest applied research organizations. The mix of 4 universities, 2 research institutes, and 3 industry partners (including 2 SMEs) at a 33% industry ratio shows a balance between scientific depth and practical application. The geographic spread across Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Italy, Sweden, Slovakia, and the UK provided diverse healthcare system contexts for testing. For a business buyer, the Fraunhofer name carries significant weight in technology transfer, and the involvement of SMEs suggests parts of the technology were developed with commercialization intent.

TECHNICKA UNIVERZITA V KOSICIACHparticipant · SK
UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI ROMA TOR VERGATAparticipant · IT
IN-JET APSparticipant · DK
HEINRICH-HEINE-UNIVERSITAET DUESSELDORFparticipant · DE
VRIJE UNIVERSITEIT BRUSSELparticipant · BE
IBM UNITED KINGDOM LTDparticipant · UK
CNET SVENSKA ABparticipant · SE

How to reach the team

Fraunhofer Gesellschaft (DE) — contact through SciTransfer for a warm introduction to the project team.

Order a report on this consortium

Next steps

Talk to the team behind this work.

Want to explore licensing this care coordination platform or integrating its components into your health IT product? SciTransfer can connect you directly with the Fraunhofer team and relevant consortium partners.

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