Care Coordination Is the Next Big Health Challenge

Care Coordination Is the Next Big Health Challenge

“If I had to find yet another doctor for this new symptom, I wouldn’t even know where to start,” Ivy told me during a patient interview. She’s a middle-aged woman in the U.S., managing a complex chronic illness. “I already have so many appointments and so much paperwork.”

Ivy has good insurance. She’s educated, articulate - and still, she feels completely lost.

And she’s not alone.

Across the globe in Denmark, I felt the weight of it myself. After finishing my interview with Ivy, I was bombarded with a flood of alerts on my national health app: medication renewals needing approval, new appointments to confirm, and pre-consultation forms to fill out. Between meetings, I carved out 30 minutes to clarify a confused prescription with a nurse. Later that evening, my partner and I spent 45 minutes juggling family logistics to fit in three different appointments - each for the same chronic condition, each in a different corner of Copenhagen.

“This is not about health care anymore,” I sighed at my partner, frustrated. “To get what I need, I've got to become a bloody project manager.”

Patients as Project Managers

Across interviews, countries, and contexts, one pattern comes up again and again: the hidden crisis of administrative burden. Managing health has become a second job. People aren’t just patients anymore: They’re acting as care coordinators, chasing information across fragmented systems, and trying to keep crucial details from slipping through the cracks.

In business and policy circles, this is often described as a supply-demand problem: there are plenty of excellent care programs and digital tools, but they get lost in the noise. Patients don’t discover them, can’t access them easily, or drop off after initial use. In response, providers double down on centralised apps or stick pamphlets in waiting rooms, hoping for better uptake.

But missed appointments and low engagement persist. People still fall through the cracks.

What’s often labelled as “patient disengagement” often points to something deeper: a system failing to design with the patient in mind. Patients, already stretched managing symptoms, schedules, and side effects, are left navigating a confusing patchwork of tools and services.

“Some weeks, my health is my full-time job,” Ivy told me, describing the effort of calling five different specialists. “Call here, call there. I’m always on the phone.”

Unsurprisingly, people like Ivy gravitate toward whatever support demands the least effort - solutions that respect their limited energy and capacity. In that sense, they’re doing exactly what any good project manager would do: prioritising their energy to survive the workload.

Digital Tools: A promise in progress

Innovative digital health solutions hold immense promise for simplifying access to quality care. Digital health applications and marketplaces are launching rapidly to track symptoms, manage prescriptions and schedule appointments with greater ease. AI-powered tools like chatbots and automation are introducing a new level of convenience, offering exciting possibilities to enhance the patient experience.

In theory, these tools reduce friction and make care more accessible. In practice, many patients still find themselves managing multiple digital platforms with limited integration, leading to increased administrative burden rather than relief.

In interviews, patients like Ivy are often eager to show us their reality through their screens. Phones cluttered with dozens of health apps, most barely used. Inboxes overflowing with automated alerts. A steady stream of prompts urging them to call someone, somewhere. Google searches and ChatGPT threads where they’ve tried to decode their symptoms, treatments, and next steps when no one else is helping them connect the dots.

While many tools aim to digitise the face of care, the deeper challenge lies in what happens behind the scenes. Can the system actually deliver on its promises of accessibility, immediacy, and accuracy? Until the back-end infrastructure is as responsive as the front-end interface, even the best-designed tools will fall short.

As a patient, I’ve been prompted to book appointments that ultimately require a phone call. Prescriptions were left on pause because someone forgot to check their inbox. Redirected by chatbots to call centres that only operate during my working hours. And when I do reach someone, I often end up explaining the system to the very people hired to guide me through it.

Digital health tools are a great compass, but the path they point to isn’t always ready for patients. Often, the systems are optimised for input, not for follow-through. That gap - between the promise of seamless care and the reality of yet another to-do list - is where frustration sets in. It erodes trust, wastes energy, and leaves people feeling more alone in a system that was meant to support them.

Innovating Beyond the Frontend

In much of digital health, the focus has been on increasing access and empowering patients through intuitive apps, new metrics and increased health literacy. All of this is necessary, especially when even in Denmark, often held up as a gold standard of public healthcare, one in five people struggles to understand basic health information.¹

But as Ivy’s story shows - and as anyone managing long-term care can confirm - knowledge and competence alone aren’t enough. What people really crave is reliability in their care. Or as Mark, who lives with a chronic condition, put it: “All I really want is that one partner who would really care, and could tell me what I should do next.”

To become that trusted partner, healthcare providers need to redesign not just their front-end interfaces, but their foundational systems. Too often, digital platforms present a polished surface layered over tangled, outdated infrastructures. Patients encounter sleek designs laid over disjointed systems, confused providers, and a care journey they’re still expected to stitch together on their own.

The real opportunity is clear: we must invest not only in patient-facing digital tools, but also in the systems that support them. When front-end solutions are aligned with well-coordinated back-end infrastructure, technology becomes more than just polished, it becomes reliable. 

By pairing smart design with operational follow-through, we lay the groundwork for truly transformative care. And begin to deliver on the promises we’ve made.

Putting patients first

As we embrace new technologies to transform healthcare, we must also strengthen the systems that support them. An AI chatbot is most effective when paired with a human touch. A symptom tracker reaches its potential only when its data leads to clear, actionable steps.

Above all, we need to refocus on the burden we truly aim to relieve: the patients’.

Real healthcare transformation isn’t measured by how efficiently providers log data or the time they spend with a patient. It’s measured by how much time and energy patients save. Time they’re no longer spending on hold, repeating their story, or chasing clarity across departments. Time they can redirect to living their lives.

To unlock the full promise of digital health, we must stop asking patients to stitch their care together. Instead, we need systems that speak to one another, provide a reliable system of care, and truly support the people they’re meant to serve.

Where to go from here?

If you’re rethinking how health tech can serve people better, we’d love to hear from you. Let's talk.

References & Further Reads

1. Aarhus University: As many as 1 in 5 don’t understand messages about health
   
   
2. WHO Denmark Health System Review: Danish healthcare and equity gaps
   
   
3. Business Insider: Why Americans are skipping care

‍