The Murcia Region (Spain) health provider co-creates with two IT Companies a digital solution to enhance disease prevention and empower patient self-management.
The Murcia Region, spanning over 11,313 km2 and home to over 1.5 million inhabitants, plays a significant role in Spain’s healthcare landscape. Accounting for 2.7% of Spanish GDP in 2021, the region places a strong emphasis on health as a priority within its Smart Specialisation Strategy, known as RIS4MUR. At the forefront of public healthcare in Murcia is the Servicio Murciano de Salud (SMS), managing nine health areas, ten public hospitals, over 280 primary care centers, and three specialized centers, ensuring quality healthcare access for its populace.
Central to this endeavor is the challenge of personalizing medical care for chronic conditions, notably epilepsy and chronic physical activity management. SMS, in collaboration with IT companies Evidenze Health España (formerly Pulso) and AicrumIT, is spearheading the development of ESFERA, a digital solution designed to stimulate prevention, personalize care delivery, and empower patients and caregivers to self-manage their conditions.
ESFERA represents a holistic digital platform enabling bidirectional communication between patients and healthcare professionals. However, to ensure optimal results, efforts are underway to enhance digital literacy among end-users, facilitating seamless interaction with the platform.
Moreover, to bolster disease prevention and patient self-management, Evidenze Health España’s digital medical education division will deliver training to end-users, leveraging innovative eLearning platforms and patient-focused apps. AicrumIT, in collaboration with Evidenze Health España, is developing cutting-edge functionalities to enrich the telemedicine experience. Facilitating this collaborative effort is Ticbiomed, the regional cluster on digital health, which coordinates regional activities and provides support for scaling up the solution.
AicrumIT and Evidenze Health España collaborate with SMS to develop a comprehensive platform aimed at improving patient and healthcare professional experiences while optimizing time and resources. They expect this collaboration to yield a product that significantly enhances quality of life, enhances monitoring, and allows for a better understanding of patients’ health situations. The development of ESFERA aims to create a diverse, telemedical platform model capable of addressing current healthcare management challenges, with anticipated positive technical and social impacts benefiting SMS and its patients directly and indirectly.
Dr. Irene Villegas, a Neurologist at the main hospital in Murcia (Hospital Virgen de la Arrixaca), underscores the importance of patient empowerment and comprehensive follow-up in chronic conditions like epilepsy. ESFERA, she explains, offers a comprehensive solution, integrating seamlessly into the hospital’s digital infrastructure.
For Tonny Velin, Product Owner at AicrumIT, ESFERA represents a paradigm shift in healthcare delivery. With its simple and intuitive interface, the platform aims to revolutionize patient-doctor interactions, ultimately enhancing the quality of care.
As ESFERA development phase nears completion, the focus shifts towards finalizing the platform’s functionalities and commencing user training, both for professionals and patients who will participate in the pilot of the solution. With its innovative features like personalized patient monitoring and flexible care delivery, ESFERA promises to address the current challenges in healthcare, delivering a user-centric and impactful solution.
In the coming months, as ESFERA enters its pilot phase, it marks a significant milestone in the journey towards practical implementation and evaluation of this innovative healthcare solution, paving the way for a new era in healthcare management in Murcia.
Disclaimer: The HealthChain project is funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or European Innovation Council and SMEs Executive Agency (EISMEA). Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
