Change is a constant in life. This is something that has been noted since the Greek philosopher Heraclitus, for whom “There is nothing permanent except change”, or the natural scientist Charles Darwin, author of the Theory of Evolution, for whom “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one that respond better to change”. For this reason, the outbreak of Covid-19 brought about a change in our lives that forced an accelerated adaptation to avoid a health hecatomb and economic collapse. Seclusion, firstly, and the reduction in social contacts to avoid disease transmission, secondly, drove the adoption of digital health technologies, including patient engagement platforms. The adoption of these digital solutions prevented the total deprotection of the population, not only from Covid-19 but also from all other diseases.
This need arose especially for the monitoring of chronic patients, patients who place a considerable burden on health systems and who most regularly attend primary care centres and hospitals. This is mainly due to the fact that the prevalence of chronic diseases accounts for almost one third of adults, especially in the area of cardiovascular diseases (ischaemic heart attack and stroke), cancers, respiratory diseases and diabetes.
Hence, in the wake of the pandemic, numerous patient engagement platforms have been and continue to be developed that present a holistic approach to monitoring and management of the chronically ill and provide a tool that enables patient interaction with healthcare professionals via their mobile device, tablet or computer. It bridges the gap and keeps patients engaged in their care even when they are not physically in the hospital or healthcare facility.
The following are some of the options that these platforms can present for chronic patient monitoring and management.
Existing platforms may have some, all or other functionalities described above. Depending on the functionalities enabled, the platform shall be certified or not as Medical Device Software (MDSW). Depending on the purpose of the platform the following situations could occur:
Also, depending on the functionalities, the business model of this platform will vary, but this, due to the length of the explanation, will be the subject of another press release to be presented later.
In any case, the continuous development of AI and technology seems to be a driving force for all these platforms, which will continue to expand, incorporating new pathologies and expanding the number of patients who will make use of them for better control and disease monitoring.
Article by Natalia de la Figuera – Cofounder and COO of GENESIS Biomed