Individualised patient care
Individualised patient care
Healthcare through your smartphone is just one example of new technology that can help the EU move away from the old one-size-fits-all system
The Commission’s plan for eHealth is part of a more general push for more individualised patient care. In part that is a response to both demographic and economic challenges (see page 20), but it is also part of an attempt to improve the quality of care from the one-size-fits-all approaches of earlier generations.
Individualised care is being assisted by developments in the field of companion diagnostics to provide constant monitoring for people with chronic health conditions. The importance of companion diagnostics has grown immensely alongside the technological advances that have been made since their initial market debut in 1988. This in turn has encouraged better co-operation between the pharmaceutical and in vitro diagnostic industries.
The possibilities for such healthcare have been transformed by developments in telecommunications. Many forms of personalised diagnostics can be managed through a smartphone – giving rise to a sub-division of eHealth described as mHealth. There are, for instance, smart phone applications that can monitor how a patient is reacting to a new medication.
Jeanine Vos, executive director of mHealth at GSMA, the industry association of the mobile telecoms operators, says that what mobile technology offers is “the ability to deliver highly effective, scalable and affordable healthcare beyond the confines of a hospital or doctor’s surgery”.
Benefits
According to GSMA, mobile access to health records could reduce administrative burdens by as much as 30%. Trials in Nordic countries show that mHealth could generate a 50%-60% reduction in hospital nights and rehospitalisation for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
Last week, GSMA released a report showing widespread public enthusiasm for mHealth technologies, with 75% of patients believing they can deliver significant health benefits. Yet it also showed that only 54% believe they can lead to a better quality of care and improved health. While there is apparent enthusiasm, there is still wariness about whether a mobile phone can deliver the same quality of care as a doctor.
Click Here: cheap INTERNATIONAL jersey
Some of the patients’ doubts are about data and data privacy. Many people are very concerned about the idea of having their personal medical information on their mobile phone, or on any device in their home, or – much harder to comprehend – in “the Cloud”. Elena Bonfiglioni, senior director of health at Microsoft in Brussels, says that her company is watching public sentiment closely. She says that while maintaining privacy guarantees, data privacy legislation needs to take into account the benefits that the sharing of data can provide. Microsoft is working with the European Commission to ensure that healthcare data receives special attention in EU data privacy legislation.
“Health needs and requirements would have to be taken much more into account in data protection discussions that are going on at EU level,” she says. “So far, it is not fully taken on board. The system is quite rigid in terms of understanding how technology is moving at a fast pace, and what is the need in terms of health solutions, and what data treatment needs to be provided.”
Finding a balancing act between taking advantage of the advantages of mHealth and ensuring data privacy will be a sensitive task. Ultimately, consumers – and patients – have to be convinced that the benefits of mobile health outweigh the concerns.