Arizona Tribune - Black Book Research: Croatia Healthcare IT Shifts From Digitization to Execution

LONDON, GB / ACCESS Newswire / April 22, 2026 / Black Book Research today released State of Digital Healthcare IT Croatia 2026, a new market intelligence report showing that Croatia has moved beyond early-stage healthcare digitization and into a higher-stakes phase where operational performance is now the central market issue.

The report, part of the 30 country subset series of the 2026 Global Healthcare IT study by Black Book, finds that Croatia's national digital health backbone, anchored by CEZIH, is already functioning at meaningful scale. CEZIH supports more than 15 million eReferrals annually, more than 61 million medicines dispensed each year through ePrescription workflows, more than 300,000 structured primary-care reports every day, and more than 1.5 million insurance checks daily. Portal zdravlja has also surpassed 800,000 users and more than 20,000 daily users, confirming that citizen-facing digital health is now operating as a mainstream service layer.

Black Book Research concludes that digital infrastructure is no longer the differentiator in Croatia. The market is now being defined by how effectively providers and vendors turn that infrastructure into faster workflow, stronger care coordination, better diagnostics integration, improved scheduling, more reliable patient access, and practical analytics and AI use.

"Croatia is no longer proving the case for digital health. It is proving which technologies can perform at scale," said Doug Brown, Founder of Black Book Research. "With CEZIH already deeply embedded in care delivery, the market is shifting from digitization to execution. The vendors that win in Croatia will be the ones that reduce friction, improve patient flow, strengthen diagnostics and interoperability, and deliver practical value in a nationally coordinated system."

The operational demands on the Croatian healthcare system reinforce that shift. In 2024, Croatia reported 21,795 inpatient beds, 631,249 hospitalizations, and 1,345,014 day-hospital and one-day-surgery visits. Internal medicine alone accounted for 619,932 day-hospital or one-day-surgery visits. Specialist outpatient care recorded 10,285,914 examinations. At that level of volume, workflow performance, referral coordination, record continuity, scheduling efficiency, and diagnostics access are strategic requirements.

The report identifies 2026 as a major turning point because CEZIH data exchange requirements are expanding to private healthcare providers outside HZZO contracts, including privately paid services delivered by already connected providers. Black Book Research says this move broadens Croatia's digital health architecture beyond the traditional public-sector transaction environment and materially raises the competitive bar for healthcare IT vendors operating in the market.

The Black Book research also highlights the policy and investment backdrop supporting continued modernization. Croatia's Digital Decade roadmap includes 31 measures with a total budget of EUR 634.73 million, giving added weight to digital transformation priorities through the remainder of the decade. At the same time, 81% of Croatians say the digitalization of public and private services is making life easier, reinforcing a favorable environment for continued adoption of digital health services.

In population health, the research points to significant pressure for stronger analytics and chronic disease management. In 2024, 396,005 people were registered with diabetes, while the estimated true burden exceeded 500,000 adults. There were 52,769 adult BIS submissions, and only 35.56% of recorded diabetes patients showed good glycaemic control. Black Book Research says these figures signal a substantial opportunity for better chronic disease surveillance, proactive follow-up, and structured digital care pathways.

Telehealth is also established at scale in Croatia. Telemedicine services are now available in most healthcare institutions across the country and span radiology, cardiology, pulmonology, psychiatry, endocrinology, neurology, transfusion medicine, and haemodialysis, positioning telehealth as an integrated access and continuity layer rather than a peripheral service category.

AI is moving from concept to practical deployment as well. Black Book Research finds the most immediate opportunities are in imaging, diagnostics, structured reporting, scheduling support, communication, and documentation workflows. A key signal is the 2026 launch of ZdrAVKO, a 24/7 AI digital health assistant made available through WhatsApp, reflecting growing public-sector willingness to deploy bounded AI tools in healthcare communication and navigation.

The report profiles representative competitive vendors materially relevant to Croatia's healthcare IT market, including Ericsson Nikola Tesla, IN2 Group, Philips, Siemens Healthineers, MCS Group, Veridian Healthstream, and Oracle Health. Black Book Research notes that Croatia is not a winner-take-all market. Supplier relevance is increasingly determined by implementation fit, interoperability depth, diagnostics integration, specialty workflow capability, resilience, governance, and alignment with CEZIH and HZZO operating requirements.

Black Book Research expects the Croatian healthcare IT market through 2030 to be shaped by four strategic decision domains: clinical and operational effectiveness, interoperability and data quality, resilience and governance, and partnership and strategic alignment.

The full report, State of Digital Healthcare IT Croatia 2026, is available now for download at no charge to healthcare providers, consultants, investors, policymakers, and technology stakeholders worldwide at:

https://blackbookmarketresearch.com/state-of-digital-healthcare-it-croatia-2026

About Black Book Research

Black Book Research is an independent healthcare market research firm delivering competitive intelligence, buyer sentiment studies, strategic analysis, and market insights across healthcare IT, digital health, managed services, outsourcing, payer operations, and healthcare transformation markets worldwide.

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Black Book Research
[email protected] 1.800.863.7590

SOURCE: Black Book Research

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H.Romero--AT