Innovative Solutions in Healthcare: A Closer Look at HealthChain’s Regional Collaborations
As part of our first approach in HealthChain project, in each of the five project regions, local IT companies collaborate with their respective healthcare organisation to address identified clinical challenge/s by implementing and testing innovative solution/s.
Through this article, we’re going to introduce you to the innovative solutions project partners are co-creating.
PRIMORSKO-GORANSKA REGION (CROATIA)
Clinical Hospital Center of Rijeka (KBCRI) has identified two challenges. One is related to the remote monitoring of heart failure patients and the second is related to preventing falls from the hospital bed. Two Croatian IT companies, Verso Altima Group and RiniGARD are working with KBCRI on addressing those challenges.
Verso Altima Group is working with the KBCRI on a remote monitoring system for heart failure patients.
The CS3 medical device (smartwatch) is designed to measure and monitor patient vital signs, particularly focusing on detecting atrial fibrillation. The device stores measurements and sends them to the CardiacSense mobile app, which then transmits the data to the Pulsevita portal for centralized storage and doctors’ analysis.
In March 2024, KBCRI has started with the 6-month trials of the solution. At the end of the trials, a comparison will be made between patients remotely monitored and those in the control group.
The aim of the remote monitoring system for heart failure patients is to detect early signs of deterioration, enable timely interventions, reduce hospital readmissions, decrease mortality, and allow patients to take an active role in managing their health by being able to track their condition and vital signs.
RiniGARD is working on the second solution with KBCRI that is related to preventing falls of patients from the hospital bed.
System to avoid fall events utilizes a thermal sensor and intelligent algorithms to detect potential risky positions in the hospital bed. If a patient’s safety is compromised, SAFE triggers an immediate alarm to the medical staff. The system prioritizes anonymity, collecting data anonymously.
By enabling swift intervention in the event of a potential fall, healthcare professionals can mitigate the risk of injuries. Furthermore, the system has the potential to reduce the need for different physical restraints, enhancing patient comfort and well-being. The constant monitoring provided by the SAFE system fosters a sense of security for the patients.
In February 2024, the 6-month trial period started. Data will be collected on falls in both conventional beds and those equipped with the SAFE system, facilitating a comparison of effectiveness and outcomes at the end of the trials.
You can find out more about the challenges, solutions, progress of implementation, and expected results here.
EAST NETHERLANDS (NETHERLANDS)
In the Netherlands, Rijnstate aims to optimize patient telemonitoring in hospital care and to improve collaboration between care professionals and organizations to improve the overall quality of care and patient satisfaction. To achieve those objectives Rijnstate will jointly co-create solutions with two IT companies, Philips and BeterDichtbij.
Rijnstate has a Virtual Care Center (VCC) that monitors patients in their homes by using various systems. A dedicated team of specialized nurses from different backgrounds are responsible for supporting and monitoring patients at home and maintaining contact with healthcare professionals in and outside the hospital. The existing systems, such as Luscii Vitals and Mijn Rijnstate, are used as much as possible. If the need for virtual care cannot be met with the existing systems, then a different technical solution is sought. As a result, the Virtual Care Centre has to look at several systems to keep an overview of their patients and to know which patients need care.
Philips has the Virtual Acute Care (VAC) system aimed at creating an overview from different acute care systems, for example in the ICU. In the HealthChain project, VAC will be further developed together with Rijnstate into an overview of all notifications from the various monitoring systems. The first pilot will start with an overview of Luscii and Philips IntelliVue Guardian Solution. If successful, it will be extended to other monitoring systems.
BeterDichtbij has developed an online communication platform, helping healthcare professionals to easily communicate with each other. The platform facilitates messaging and video calls between users, groups, or departments, and the use of attachments/message templates and other features. BeterDichtbij will integrate its solution into the Virtual Care Center to improve cooperation in the care of patients.
You can find out more about the challenge, solution, progress of implementation, and expected results here.
CENTRO ( PORTUGAL )
In the Portuguese ecosystem, Centro Hospitalar e Universitário de Coimbra (CHUC) works with the IT company Promptly Health to solve their challenges.
Currently, clinical data is scattered and presented descriptively, leading to manual and error-prone information searches. Home patient monitoring, primarily conducted through telephone contact, lacks a systematic approach.
The main objective of the CHUC and Promptly is to enable the support of hospital practices through the implementation of a structured language for clinical records in ophthalmology and cardiology services.
Promptly’s innovative solution involves developing a digital infrastructure for AI services to optimize patient engagement and monitoring.
Specifically, in ophthalmology, solutions include the implementation of Ophthalmology Collect for the collection of Clinical Reported Outcomes (CROs) and Patient-Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) related to neovascularization disease. Additionally, Natural Language Processing (NLP) will be employed.
For cardiology services, an AI predictive model will be implemented to address the complexities of severe Aortic Stenosis, particularly in conjunction with Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation (TAVI) procedures.
These innovative solutions are expected to bring a multitude of benefits to both the CHUC and Promptly, but most importantly to the end-users (medical personnel and patients). The main expected benefits include reduced treatment costs, improved healthcare services, enhanced patient satisfaction, decreased hospital readmissions, improved patient outcomes, etc.
You can find out more about the challenge, solution, progress of implementation, and expected results here.
WESTERN SLOVENIA (SLOVENIA)
Western Slovenia is focused on the challenge of reducing the length of hospital stay for patients after hip replacement surgery. Surgical Sanatorium Rožna Dolina (KSRD) is jointly co-creating solutions with two Slovenian IT companies, Health Lord and Parsek.
HealthLord will lead the development of the solutions, while Parsek’s role in the development is to propose quality and regulatory requirements, as well as to support the commercialization and internationalization of the solutions.
Rehabilitation outside the hospital environment has proven faster and more effective from the patient’s perspective, leading the partnership to seek new approaches using innovative information and communication technologies. The main objective is to reduce hospital stays from 7 to 2 days after hip replacement surgery.
Partners are working on two solutions to address this challenge, Mobile Health Card (MHC) and Personal Medicine Card (PMC). MHC and PMC applications will provide better patient traceability, resulting in higher quality and faster treatment. They will also provide a comprehensive overview of the patient’s therapy – including treatment of associated diseases. The applications will allow the issuance of remote professional instructions for continuing therapy after discharge from the hospital into home care. Patient awareness and continuous connection with professionals will be enhanced by the applications, with the option of caregiver assistance.
Solutions are currently in the development and optimization stage, while the start of the piloting phase is envisaged for April 2024.
You can find out more about the challenge, solution, progress of implementation, and expected results here.
MURCIA REGION (SPAIN)
Within the HealthChain project, Servicio Murciano de Salud (SMS) has the main challenge to personalise medical care for chronic conditions, with a focus on epilepsy and physical activity for chronic conditions.
SMS is jointly co-creating with two IT companies, Evidenze Health España (formerly Pulso) and AicrumIT a digital solution that stimulates prevention, personalises care delivery and empowers patients and caregivers to self-manage their condition, called ESFERA. This innovative solution represents a holistic digital platform where patients and healthcare professionals share information through bidirectional communication.
ESFERA aims to address the challenge of managing patient seizures by allowing them to report incidents and provide vital information about their condition, including medication side effects and quality of life. This data will be compiled into a comprehensive dashboard for healthcare professionals to help them in decision-making. The anticipated impact of ESFERA is expected to be positive, benefiting both SMS and its patients directly and indirectly, both technically and socially. Furthermore, IT companies expect that ESFERA will significantly improve the quality of life for patients and healthcare professionals, optimizing time and resources, and enhancing monitoring.
The next steps involve finalizing the development of the last functionalities included in the ESFERA solution. Simultaneously, as they near completion of the development phase, they are preparing the recruitment process for patients and professionals who will participate in the pilot program.
You can find out more about the challenge, solution, progress of implementation, and expected results here.
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.
