"2017 was marked by the firm wager on cloud models and telemonitoring"

Once again, we take advantage of the beginning of the year to collect the impressions of our Director, Dr. Francesc Garcia Cuyàs, who considers the main trends observed in the Catalan health ecosystem in the last year and those that will come in 2018. This year, however, we are echoing an interview by HIMSS Europe that was recently published and which we want to share here. The Fundació TIC Salut Social and HIMSS Europe have long collaborated and in 2018 TIC Salut Social will participate in the HIMSS Europe Conference and Health 2.0 that will take place in Sitges on May 27-29.

-What digital health trends will stand out in 2018?

We think that this year will be very interesting for the so-called “digital therapies”: technology that helps the citizen and the health professional. Two good examples of that are virtual reality and augmented reality. They will become more tools within the professionals’ therapeutic arsenal. In turn, these tools will promote new training and simulation environments.

In this area, at the Foundation we are working on a project to treat agoraphobia with virtual reality. This treatment can be used in the mental health centre and also by patients from home. We also believe that artificial intelligence will be very important in detecting trends. However, the algorithms used in this discipline must be scientifically proved, otherwise it can be very dangerous.

-Will technology take doctors away from patients?

Not at all. Technology cannot override the human side of medicine. Despite the new technological tools, we must continue to be close to the citizens and maintain human contact … to continue “touching” the patient. In this sense, home care will become increasingly important. The goal must be to avoid the hospital and have a comprehensive home care system, while maintaining the human side of medicine.

-The TIC Salut Trends Map was recently presented. What is this?

The Trends Map is a survey that began ten years ago to identify how technology centres in Catalonia were evolving technologically. It shows how they incorporate technology and what the main needs are. At the same time, it provides information to private companies on which businesses may be of interest to the Administration.

-What were the most outstanding trends in 2017?

There are two interesting ones. On the one hand, there is a firm commitment to the Cloud models in optimising the organisations’ services. And on the other, telemonitoring. For years it has been stabilised and this year we have seen that there are 10% more projects that use this system in the treatment of complex patients. Another trend that is starting to take off is health apps. Mobile applications that are certified and that can be prescribed by health and social professionals are becoming increasingly important. At the same time, we see that there is a certain mistrust because this is a new way of working and professionals want to be sure that the citizens benefit.

-Who asks more for apps, the citizens or the healthcare professionals?

Both. Professionals want to be close to the patients and have more data about them, and apps allow it. And on the other hand, the citizens want to have more information and control over their health.

-Are apps one of the Foundation’s wagers for 2018? What projects do you have in this area?

Two years ago, we started the Health App project, which wagers on health professionals recommending and prescribing mobile applications. Health App (App Salut) performs an accreditation process to make sure that apps benefit the citizens, which includes four areas: security, usability, data protection and scientific evidence. This work is done with a team of collaborators that includes the Medical College of Physicians (COMB), the School of Nursing, the Catalan Nursing Society, the Primary Care Society (CAMFIC), the College of Clinical Psychologists, and the School of Physical Education and Sports Sciences has also recently been incorporated. If the app is validated, it achieves a stamp and is integrated into the primary information system for doctors and nurses (eCap). They can also be found on an open portal. In October we started a pilot project and the results were excellent, so the prescription of apps will be integrated into the health system.

You also include technology in the patient experience. What does the DPax project consist of?

The DPax (Digital Patient Experience) project emerges from a request of the 2016-2020 Health Plan: the digital transformation of the healthcare system. Our job is to analyse the processes that take place in the health structure, including all the stakeholders, the most important of which is the citizen. Thus, the citizen joins at the beginning of the process design, which means that it is possible to know their needs and expectations. Once the analysis is made, we introduce technological tools to make life easier for patients and professionals. It is essential to include the citizen in the health team and is giving great results.

What kinds of patients does DPax involve?

It currently includes diabetes, COPD and stroke. In the near future we will include oncology and home care. One of the projects on which we are working is the digitisation of Primary Care, trying to digitalise processes that make life easier for citizens. We have had eConsult for the past year. After a first contact, the doctor and the citizen agree to communicate virtually. It is a system widely accepted by both professionals and patients, as it gives them comfort. The next step is to extend this virtual consultation to specialised care.

How is virtual communication made between doctor and patient?

We have built a secure platform that allows communication through a chat. We ruled out videoconferencing because it was too complex. We do not use email either because it is not a secure tool for these kinds of communications.

You are planning to launch this Digital Health Observatory. What are the aims of this?

The idea is to gather knowledge, experiences, dissemination … To explore what is happening in the digital health world in order to interpret this knowledge and disseminate it in a standardised way. We also want to create our own information and become a benchmark centre in dissemination in this field. We plan to launch the Observatory in March.