03.01. Detalle

HEALTH OPTIMUM intends to carry out an in-depth analysis of the current organisational structures in the targeted countries, to identify and market validate the most suitable suite of telemedicine services able, on the one hand, to rationalise their internal organisation and bring a substantial reduction of running costs and, on the other hand, to improve citizens’ access to high quality healthcare service.

Despite organisational differences, all the European Public Healthcare systems are experiencing a progressive shortage of financial resources principally due to the ageing of the European population, which reduces the active population’s tax flow while increasing the demand for health services. Additionally because of the many cases of medical errors - which definitely occur but which are often amplified by the media - there is a general pressure from EU citizens for higher quality standards in healthcare provision.

As a matter of fact, in the next years, the only way to cope with such a dramatic shortage of financial resources is to rethink how healthcare systems are organised with special attention to the opportunity that the availability of communication networks and advances in ICT open up... These advances make affordable the extensive application of telemedicine solutions in their various declinations (e.g. distance learning, protocol based shared clinical records, tele-consultation, second opinion, etc.) to several branches of medicine (e.g. cardiology, neurology, respiratory diseases, etc.).

The rational deployment of telemedicine could thus allow Local and Regional Health Authorities to optimise their size, their workflows, the quality and the geographical distribution of their specialty teams on the basis of the expected needs of the population to assist rather than on the basis of physical proximity to citizens.

The use of telemedicine would thus allow access to highly trained specialists through the deployment of an adequate communication network and a set of applications, which will reduce to a bare minimum the need for a patient to travel long distances in order to physically see a specialist.

The possibility for a Local or Regional Health Authority to reduce the number of specialty centres in the geographical area they cover, would allow each centre to reach an optimum concentration of skilled medical resources in spite of the general scarcity of specialised medical doctors that affects most European countries.

Moreover experience has shown that a high concentration of specialists in the same field in a single physical location sparks a self-fertilisation process, which continuously improves the quality of the specialty team.

HEALTH OPTIMUM intends to carry out an in-depth analysis of the current organisational structures in the targeted countries, to identify and market validate the most suitable suite of telemedicine services able, on the one hand, to rationalise their internal organisation and bring a substantial reduction of running costs and, on the other hand, to improve citizens’ access to high quality healthcare service

Tele-counselling

General hospital specialists or exceptionally a General Practitioner requests the opinion of the tertiary hospital specialists on a clinical case. The service can be provided according to various modalities:

• Asynchronously (secure e-mail type interaction). The requesting professional sends the query to the tertiary hospital specialists and waits for a reply. The maximum delay in replying to a query must have been agreed beforehand between the requester and the tertiary hospital. Both the request and the counsellor answer make use of standard forms, agreed among all the actors involved in the tele-counselling. Such forms must contain all the clinical and anamnesis information needed to provide a feedback through tele-counselling. Moreover such forms must be validated through digital signature according to EU and national regulations. Results from diagnostic procedures (e.g. X-Ray, lab results, E.C.G., etc) as well as excerpts from the patient’s clinical records can be attached to the form. As an alternative, temporary remote access to the patient’s clinical records can be provided to the specialist through an adequate authentication procedure;
• Interactively (through videoconferencing facilities). In this case the healthcare professionals can talk and see each other and thus share information about the patient. They are even able to work on the same item while being at different hospitals (“whiteboard” feature), seeing e.g. where the other has put the cursor. This modality normally requires booking an appointment with the tertiary hospital specialist as in the case of a normal referral unless standby or emergency arrangements are in place between the requesting party and the tertiary hospital.

Telelaboratory

The Tele-laboratory service allows to carry out tests which are usually executed inside a clinical laboratory practically in any place thanks to portable analysis equipment which can be checked remotely, data transmission and a PKI infrastructure which guarantee the authenticity the confidentiality and the legal value of the data transmitted.

Notification services

This family of services will notify the referring medical doctor (general hospital specialist or GP) about relevant events concerning the evolution inside the tertiary hospital of the patient they have referred. Three types of events requiring notification have already been identified in a previous eTEN project (C³ - Comprehensive Continuous Care):

• Notification of Admission;
• Notification of Transfer;
• Notification of Discharge (this includes death as one of the possible reasons for discharge).

Virtual referral

General hospital specialists or exceptionally a General Practitioner carries out a virtual referral with the tertiary hospital specialist while the patient is in his/her clinic. This service normally requires booking an appointment with the tertiary hospital specialist as in the case of a normal referral unless standby or emergency arrangements are in place between the requesting party and the tertiary hospital

Shared clinical records

A referring general hospital specialist and tertiary hospital specialists will have access to the same set of a patient’s clinical records during a virtual referral or during the entire stay of the patient in a tertiary hospital. This will allow the referring specialist not to lose touch with his/her patient.

Participantes

Noticias

Health Optimum eTEN project of the year 2005
Health Optimum offers telemedicine solutions to optimise health care
Telemedicine solutions to optimise healthcare
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Contacto

Dr Franco Toniolo
Regione Veneto
Palazzo Balbi – Dorsoduro, 3901 BP - Cedex 1-30123 – Venezia (Italy)
Tfno.: +39 0422323236
E-mail: seghopt@ulss.tv.it
Web: http://www.regione.veneto.it/channels