- Success Story
Digitalized healthcare: KVBW focuses on IT efficiency & agility
Modern IT infrastructure as a game changer for the Baden-Württemberg Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians.
MHP is Revolutionizing IT Modernization for KVBW
As a key service provider in the healthcare sector, the Baden-Württemberg Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KVBW) is dedicated to ensuring comprehensive healthcare for people throughout the German federal state. State-of-the-art IT infrastructure is essential for maximum efficiency and rapid billing processes for outpatient healthcare services.
KVBW was faced with the challenge of renewing its large software stack for its self-developed software. The outdated framework, which is used to bill and process payments from health insurance companies to doctors in Baden-Württemberg and to digitally map administrative processes with doctors, was to be replaced by modern Spring Boot and Angular apps. An on-premise environment was chosen for better protection of health data. This is where MHP came into play and supported KVBW with comprehensive expertise in containerization, DevOps and Kubernetes to provide the best possible infrastructure.
Kubernetes is an open-source platform for the automated deployment, scaling, and management of container applications. Users can use these applications to efficiently orchestrate and operate complex application landscapes with great flexibility.
From the Challenge to the Objective: Establishing a Future-Proof, Complex Framework
The old system was to be gradually migrated to a new technology stack, part of which was to be Kubernetes. The aim was to modernize the entire system and standardize on a new tech stack.
The main goal of KVBW's collaboration with MHP was and is to build a secure, scalable, highly automated and future-oriented cloud and container infrastructure based on Kubernetes. This platform serves as the basis for operating the entire software stack, including the openKV 2.0 suite, which is used for billing medical services and digitizing administrative processes with doctors.
This is where MHP came into play. MHP provided KVBW with comprehensive expertise in containerization, DevOps and Kubernetes in order to plan out and provide the best possible infrastructure.
A DevOps Revolution: Agile Teamwork Redefines System Migration and Platform Operation
In order to facilitate a successful system migration, and to ensure long-term operation and the continuous development of the platform in the future, the project participants chose a DevOps structure with an agile SCRUM development approach.
The DevOps approach is a methodology that promotes collaboration and communication between software development (Dev) and IT operations (Ops) in order to accelerate the software development process, while also ensuring efficient ongoing operation of the platform.
This was implemented by a newly created platform engineering team – a hybrid team consisting of internal KVBW experts in software development and system administration plus MHP DevOps specialists.
The MHP DevOps specialists are experienced in setting up, automating, and operating agile development environments. Software development and IT operations work closely together, hence the term DevOps (Developers & Operations).
The Outcome: Significant Efficiency Gains and Greater Flexibility with Automated Deployments
Manual deployments and complex, individual development tests are now a thing of the past. All deployments and subsequent integration tests now run automatically on the Kubernetes platform. The increased level of automation of the KVBW container infrastructure (infrastructure-as-code) means that requests and software releases can now be executed quickly and with great flexibility.
Highly automated monitoring oversees scores of parameters across the entire software environment. The relevant employees are notified and informed when problems arise. Potential improvements are identified more quickly as part of the operation and constant monitoring of the platform. These improvements are then incorporated into the sprints as specific stories.
The Role of MHP: A Driving Force for Technological Excellence
The software engineers from MHP did not just provide support during the project – they also served as an innovating force, driving forward the development process of the Kubernetes platform for KVBW. As an agile coach and technical lead in the platform engineering team, MHP played a key role in implementing advanced monitoring systems and efficient problem-solving strategies.
MHP’s expertise enabled KVBW to build the platform and to continuously optimize it and adapt it to the requirements of a modern IT landscape. Thanks to this close collaboration, KVBW now has access to a functioning and stable Kubernetes platform and can adapt it as required with continuous and efficient deployments to overcome future challenges.
The Success Story in Figures
- Around 30 individual infrastructure services are rolled out each week via seven Kubernetes clusters.
- Approximately 40 in-house apps are in operation, and the trend continues to rise.
- More than 5 billion euros in fees are distributed to over 20,000 members, doctors, and psychotherapists each year.
An Impact That Goes Beyond the Industry
Kubernetes is establishing itself as a transformative force in software development, both within cloud environments and beyond. The introduction of this technology at KVBW demonstrates how Kubernetes can set groundbreaking standards across industries – especially when it comes to meeting high availability (HA) requirements.
Utilizing Kubernetes not only makes the development and operation of new applications more efficient; it also makes a significant contribution to reducing costs and accelerating digital transformation processes. These benefits highlight the potential of Kubernetes for other service providers and use cases.
MHP Supports Digitalization with Innovative and Complex IT Solutions
The joint project between KVBW and MHP impressively demonstrates how innovative IT solutions can be used to significantly advance digitalization in companies – in the healthcare sector and beyond. MHP’s expertise in the development and operation of modern, scalable, and high availability software platforms played a key role in the success of this project.
"The MHP project staff have brought their expertise in the automation, deployment and operation elements of container infrastructures to the project, with excellent results. Providing the container infrastructure in an ‘air gap’ environment has seen the collaboration result in significant added value for KVBW and MHP."
Romulus Bruckner
Team Leader, KVBW
“MHP develops and operates Kubernetes platforms that enable the development and operation of modern, scalable, containerized, and high availability software. In doing so, it offers leading support to its clients in the field of digitalization.”
Jochen Grün
Senior Manager Mobility & Enterprise Solutions, MHP
