HealthchainStories
RETIMO: Smart Triage for Safer Cardiovascular Care
The need
Remote home monitoring (RHM) models have been established to: 1) avoid unnecessary hospital admissions (appropriate care at the appropriate place), and 2) to efficiently monitor patients at home who either face chronic conditions (cardiovascular have the greatest prevalence and mortality rates) or had recently treatment / operation and have more critical monitoring needs.
The main objective of this program is to develop a digital solution for the multi-stage monitoring triage at home for cardiovascular (CVD) patients, reducing hospital visits / re-admissions and improving citizens’ quality of life.
The HealthChain Support
HealthChain supported Healthcare Organisations in identifying their innovation challenges and selecting companies to address them. They worked closely as an interregional team to co-create, test, and validate a solution aligned with real clinical workflows, patient needs, and organisational constraints. The project provided financial and business support to boost the solution’s market-readiness and commercialisation.
The
Solution
RETIMO (Real-time-Monitoring), a digital platform developed by Digital Health Services (DHS). It is designed to facilitate multi-stage monitoring and triage for cardiovascular disease (CVD) patients, shifting care from the hospital to the home to reduce readmissions and hospital visits. Key features include:
- Real-time Telemetry: Utilises medical-grade, wireless equipment to record and transfer biomarkers and ECG measurements in real-time to a web-based system.
- Remote Teleconsultation: Provides healthcare professionals with tools to consult patients remotely and provide diagnoses based on real measurements.
- In-Hospital Triage Node: A triage node was also set up within the Emergency Department (ED) to assess admissions, follow incidents through the hospital pathway, and maintain records post-discharge.
- Data Management: Includes a secure, encrypted system for data access, analytics, and visualisation through dashboards and reporting tools.
Impact
The project bridged the gap between innovative technology and routine clinical workflows, benefiting both the hospital’s operations and the developer’s market position.
- For the Healthcare Organisation: Identified internal technical constraints and refined requirements for future digital health tools.
- Fostered a culture of external collaboration, integrating a third-party solution int routina hospial processes.
- For the SME (Digital Health Services): Gained critical real-world validation, leading to two commercial contracts before the pilot even concluded.
- Accelerated market readiness through specialised equipment purchases and business mentoring.
- Established a networking bridge with other regional hospitals and stakeholders through ecosystem representatives.
Outcomes
The pilot successfully tested the RETIMO real-time monitoring solution in both hospital and home settings.
- Monitored over 160 patients through the proposed solution during the pilot period.
- Trained 15+ healthcare professionals, nearly quadrupling the initial target of four.
- Completed two-month proactive monitoring cycles for elderly patients with chronic needs and high-risk cardiac cases (arrhythmias).
- Deployed a functional triage node within the Emergency Department (ED) of the General Hospital of Ilias to track patient pathways.
Sustainability
The roadmap ensures the transition from a funded trial to a self-sustaining commercial entity with a clear path to EU-wide expansion.
- The General Hospital of Ilias has already committed a new contract to continue the solution under a self-funded pilot program.
- DHS is adopting a tiered SaaS model, charging for hospital licenses (estimated €500–800/bed/month) and per-patient monitoring fees (€50–120/patient/month).
- Targeting 0.5 to 2.6M€ during 2026 through Venture Capital investment and EU grants to reach profitability.
- Priority focuses on achieving MDR Class IIa (CE marking) during 2026.
- Geographic expansion into Cyprus and the Balkans.
- Modular scaling allows DHS to maintain a steady runway while pursuing high-value diagnostics certifications.