We analyzed the admission workflow in three Swiss hospitals of different size for normal and emergency admissions. Our goal was to detect shortcomings mainly in the administrative admission process due to media breaks. We obtained 9 different workflows (three per hospital) and a total of 22 shortcomings in the admission process which were present or likely in two or more of the hospitals. A considerable number could be traced back to missing information requiring time consuming extra work. We drafted five potential IT-based workflow changes and made, together with the hospital partners, a cost-benefit analysis which solution would be most interesting. As a result, a concept for an open multi center hospital admission portal was drafted, which, in theory, should influence 8 of the 22 problems found. Specifically, the prototype of the portal was designed for a direct triangular interaction between the referring doctor, the patient and the hospital staff.