Public Health Authority of Frankfurt

Modernizing Public Health IT: The Gesundheitsamt Frankfurt am Main & VSHN Success Story

About Gesundheitsamt Frankfurt am Main

The Public Health Authority of the City of Frankfurt am Main began its digital transformation in 2016.
The urgency for change grew significantly in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic exposed the need for efficient data reporting and communication with state and federal ministries. In response, the European Union provided funding to support the modernization of health departments across Germany.

With this support, Frankfurt received EU funding to develop an open-source operations application for health departments, now known as GA-Lotse. The platform was designed to deliver a flexible, secure, and scalable digital infrastructure for public health management.

The Challenge

Frankfurt faced several unique challenges in modernizing its infrastructure:

• Fragmented processes – Germany’s federal system meant each health department had different workflows, complicating standardization and communication.
• Data sensitivity – Handling personal health data requires strict compliance with privacy regulations and protection laws.
• Resource constraints – Many departments lacked the internal IT resources to build and maintain complex infrastructure.
• Tight deadlines – The platform had to be delivered quickly after a public tender process, in time for the planned launch.

The GA-Lotse Initiative

The EU-backed GA-Lotse project set out to modernize health IT with a focus on:

• Modular design – Including both generic modules (user management, communication, calendar, statistics) and specific modules (hygiene inspections, school health checks, travel vaccinations).
• Federated instances – Each district in Hessen operates its own customizable instance, retaining full ownership of personal and medical data.
• Secure data exchange – The platform enables the sharing of anonymized, encrypted statistics with state authorities while protecting sensitive data.
• Privacy by design – The architecture ensures that personal identifiers are separated from medical records and strictly adheres to data protection guidelines.

How cronn GmbH built GA-Lotse

The development was led by cronn GmbH, commissioned by the Public Health Authority of Frankfurt to build the software as an open-source solution. The initiative was launched in cooperation with the Hessian Ministry for Family, Senior Citizens, Sports, Health, and Care.
Security was a top priority: cronn implemented a Zero Trust architecture and encrypted communication between all system components. This means no internal or external entity is automatically trusted, and every access is continuously verified. Frankfurt made a deliberate choice for open source – the complete code will be published once a stable version is reached.

The Power of Open Source

Using open source for GA-Lotse brings several benefits to public sector organizations:

• Transparency – Open code fosters trust and accountability.
• Collaboration – Regions can share improvements and avoid redundant development.
• Cost-effectiveness – No vendor lock-in means reduced costs and improved sustainability.
• Flexibility – Each health department can tailor the platform to local needs while complying with national standards.

Partnering with VSHN

In 2024, VSHN won a public tender to provide platform engineering and DevOps services for GA-Lotse. Their contributions included:

• Cloud-native infrastructure – Using containerized deployments for flexibility and scalability.
• Zero Trust security model – Ensuring strict authentication and authorization across all components.
• Open-source development – Promoting transparency and collaboration.
• SaaS delivery – Providing GA-Lotse as a managed service, easing the IT burden on individual health departments.

The Results

VSHN delivered the infrastructure under tight timelines, enabling the public launch on October 1, 2024. Key outcomes:

• Improved operational efficiency – Standardized yet flexible deployments for every district in Hessen.
• Enhanced security and compliance – Full alignment with German and EU data protection laws.
• Scalable and future-proof architecture – The cloud-native setup grows with the needs of public health services.
• Empowered health departments – SaaS frees up local teams to focus on health, not infrastructure.

Running on Red Hat OpenShift, hosted on Exoscale

GA-Lotse is powered by Red Hat OpenShift, a Kubernetes-based platform with enterprise-grade automation, security, and DevOps tooling. It is a popular choice for robust application hosting in regulated environments.

The platform is hosted by Exoscale, a Swiss-based European cloud provider with data centers in Germany. Exoscale offers privacy-first, self-service cloud infrastructure that is aligned with EU and Swiss data protection laws.
As a European alternative to US hyperscalers, Exoscale emphasizes GDPR compliance and data sovereignty, making it ideal for regulated public sector workloads. Exoscale is part of A1 Digital International GmbH.

Quotes from the project

PD Dr. Peter Tinnermann, Head of Gesundheitsamt Frankfurt am Main:
“Integrating the first modules of GA-Lotse into our daily work was a real turning point for our organization and our team. The platform streamlines our processes, enhances collaboration, and allows us to devote more time to what matters most: the health of our citizens. What excites me most is that GA-Lotse is built to be shared – other public health authorities can benefit just as much as we do. Together, we are setting new standards for innovation, digital transformation, and digital sovereignty in public health.”

Bianca Kastl, PO, Gesundheitsamt Frankfurt am Main:
“A key component of GA-Lotse is scalable and secure operations based on a sovereign cloud platform. This requires partners like VSHN, who bring deep experience in DevSecOps.”

Aarno Aukia, Co-Founder, VSHN:
“GA-Lotse and VSHN share a common foundation: openness, transparency, collaboration, open source, cloud-native technology, and the highest regulatory standards. I’m proud to support the digital transformation of such a vital part of our society together with our partners.”

Conclusion

The partnership between VSHN and Gesundheitsamt Frankfurt am Main is a benchmark for digital transformation in the public sector. By combining modern cloud-native architecture, open source, and a strong focus on data protection, the project ensures that Frankfurt’s public health infrastructure remains resilient, scalable, and aligned with the principles of digital sovereignty.

Want to Learn More?

Watch the recording of our talk at the Red Hat Summit Switzerland 2025, ‘Digital Transformation in Healthcare,’ featuring Bianca Kastl, Mohammad Alavi & Aarno Aukia, and discover how cutting-edge technology enables secure, scalable, and efficient digital healthcare solutions.