Barcelona, Wednesday 28 February 2018
Deploying digital health: Do it because you can, do it because it’s hard, do it because it’s human.
Digital Technology when effectively deployed really does improve patient outcomes. During Day 2 of the Digital Health and Wellness Summit 2018 the hand-picked, invite-only audience heard from experts with successful experience of the implementation of digital health at scale.
Opening Day 2 we heard how leading sports teams are utilising cutting-edge health data to monitor and improve player effectiveness, with an outcome of reduced injuries for top-class players and better team performance. Albert Mundet, Head of Knowledge at Barça Innovation Hub, FC Barcelona, explained the lengths they go to to leverage technology to monitor and improve player performance, with an outcome of reduced injuries for top-class players and better team performance. There are a number of opportunities that are being explored to roll out this knowledge to the fans of FC Barcelona and the wider public.
Most healthcare organisations only get feedback when patients leave hospitals, meaning that feedback data becomes a platform for patients to vent their frustrations. So what happens if you ask patients to provide feedback whilst on the wards. Well, it means that any problems can be addressed quickly resulting in better delivery of healthcare for the patient. Neil Gomes, (@neilgomes) Chief Digital Officer at Thomas Jefferson Hospital took the audience on a journey of mobile health citing examples from #Tesla #Ford, boiling frogs, massive waste, Benjamin Franklin and the #Philadelphia Eagles win at the #SuperBowl to explain how this data can be utilised to improve service delivery in Philadelphia.
An important piece of the jigsaw for effective deployment of digital health is communication. During the breaks in Day 2 there were fantastic opportunities for attendees to network with all speakers and meet the fantastic Supporting Partner @sanofi and Pitching Partners @ClusterSalutMen @LactApp @Doctoralia @socialdiabetes and @UniversalDoctor that helped make #DHWS18 at #4YFN18 possible.
With an ever growing mountain of health data there is an ever growing jungle of apps. We heard from an insurer, Elena Torrente (@etorrente) of @DKVSeguros, @neilgomes and Maria Jesus Salido @Odilas of @socialdiabetes as they explored some the challenges faced by patients, healthcare organisations, developers and regulators to ensure high quality health apps. User validation, certifications, clinical trials and testing applications in hospitals are just some of the ways to manage this challenge.
Digital Health is often costly to deploy and only used in the best performing health systems. So what happens in a crisis when traditional systems break down- and can you supporting patients rapidly using digital only platforms? Frederic Llordachs I Marques of @Doctoralia answered with a firm ‘yes’- providing attendees with a fascinating insight into how offered free online psychological support to victims of the Mexico earthquake in September 2017.
So with all of this digital health deployment comes a major problem- how do we share data across borders safely and securely. Well #Blockchain is one solution. But it’s a complex and often misunderstood area. The question is ‘is Blockchain the ultimate solution for healthcare? The answer- well… Blockchain is not the silver-bullet solution for healthcare. Rather, It is a protocol that enables us to meet security, confidentiality and accuracy needs for health data and when embraced effectively will rapidly increase the pace of improvement and ability to effectively analyse more and more data across organisations and borders. The good examples presented by Francesco Oggionni, Head of EIM Operations at @sanofi and Artur Novek from Estonia, 1st country in the world using Blockchain for healthcare data, illustrated concrete applications of this emerging technology.
So what about VR and AR how does that improve the delivery of health? It’s ideally placed to be deployed in Education, Research and Clinical settings, says Kumar Jacob @kumarKJx , CEO of Mindwaves. There are a number of amazing examples of how the tech is being deployed but we need to remember that the pace of change in digital tech is rapid- sometimes in health we can over test solutions and Kumar urged the audience to be agile in the deployment of tech and pivot when needed.
Patient outcomes really can be improved through the effective deployment of digital technology. ECHAlliance is a Not For Profit that’s driving implementation of digital health at scale across the globe. We’d like to thanks all attendees, speakers and sponsors of DHWS18 and look forward to seeing you next year!
Shark Tanks
Wednesday’s Shark Tanks saw a number of start-ups pitching their ideas to use digital technology to improve healthcare. In Shark Tank 3 we heard from @AbiGlobalHealth; @LactApp; #Allergeneat.
During Shark Tank 4 we enjoyed pitches from @guglielmi_ana, CEO of @Vooiage; Gabriel Chao, @iXensor and; Theodor Belomoev of kpro.tech. Don’t be afraid!
In total, 12 start-ups had the opportunity to pitch over the 2 days in front of the audience, including investors and digital health experts. A big thank you to all the pitchers and our sharks!
Get involved
Follow all the action from day two of the summit on Twitter #DHWS18.
Further information
- Further information is available from Beatriz Sanz, Communications and Events Manager, (beatriz@echalliance.com)
For all media enquiries please contact: (press@echalliance.com).
