Annual Symposium of the Digital Progress Hubs for Health, Berlin, March 25, 2026

Digital Progress Hubs in Focus: MiHUB Dresden Provides Impetus for Connected Care

As part of the MII anniversary symposium, Wednesday morning focused on the Digital Progress Hubs and their role in enabling a connected, research-oriented healthcare system. Prof. Martin Sedlmayr, head of MiHUB, opened the Digital Progress Hubs session at the annual symposium and moderated the subsequent discussion.

From University Hospitals to Widespread Care

A central question was how digital structures developed at university hospitals can be transferred into broader healthcare provision. Prof. Sedlmayr emphasized that data-driven medicine can only succeed if, alongside university medicine, outpatient practices, nursing facilities, and rehabilitation centers are consistently integrated.

Dr. Karen Voigt, representing general practice research networks, contributed the perspective of general practitioners. She made it clear that in primary care, treatment is the top priority: research is not an end in itself but must provide tangible added value for everyday clinical practice. Integration into digital data infrastructures will therefore only succeed if it does not create additional burdens but ideally reduces them. At the same time, she highlighted the significant potential of primary care data as a reflection of real-world healthcare beyond university hospitals.

Topics discussed included the development of interoperable structures in outpatient care, the systematic use of outpatient data, and the need for standardized frameworks and appropriate incentive systems. Regulatory hurdles and issues of acceptance were also addressed.

Digital Patient Portals as a Bridge Between Sectors

MiHUB also contributed substantively: in his presentation, Prof. Hannes Schlieter demonstrated how digital patient portals can improve cross-sector connectivity and strengthen patient empowerment, enabling individuals to take a more active role in their own care.

Thinking Long-Term

All participants agreed that the Progress Hubs should not be seen as temporary funding projects, but as catalysts for sustainable, scalable solutions that create long-term value for healthcare delivery and research. MiHUB Dresden stands for precisely this ambitio, and played an active role in shaping it at the Annual Symposium of the Digital Progress Hubs for Health.