In 2025, Bürgerspital Solothurn of the Solothurner Spitäler AG introduced an integrated patient journey for breast cancer patients to enhance care quality through organized, interdisciplinary processes. While clinical benefits were the main driver to implement such a new approach, this analysis now also considers economic sustainability, resource allocation, and evaluation criteria to provide a more comprehensive perspective.

The research used a qualitative design that combined a literature review on integrated care, value-based healthcare, and patient journeys with eight semi-structured staff interviews. The implemented patient journey was analysed using the healthcare value chain framework, highlighting activities along the patient journey, value gains and losses, as well as involved stakeholders to pinpoint inefficiencies and improvement potential.

Findings show strong support for the integrated patient journey, with benefits in interdisciplinary collaboration, patient-oriented processes, and potential improvements in patient outcomes. However, certain challenges emerged, such as limited staff involvement in the design phase, unclear evaluation metrics, coordination complexity, and economic uncertainty in the early implementation phase. The analysis identified opportunities including clearer communication protocols, optimized scheduling, and better-defined evaluation methods to improve the integrated approach. As a result, a redesigned patient journey model is proposed, balancing quality of care with efficiency, supported by a tailored evaluation framework. These measures could enhance sustainability, scalability, and value creation for both patients and the Bürgerspital Solothurn.