eHealth Week 2016
 

Anna Sort, CEO, PlayBenefit

SPEAKER AT EHEALTH WEEK ON 10 JUNE, 11:00 - 12:00

SESSION TITLE: “Adapting health professionals’ education to fit innovation”

The session you will be presenting in is called “Adapting health professionals’ education to fit innovation” – what can we look forward to hearing from your presentation?

We will talk about Gamification, how to inspire the crowd to solve problems in a creative way that drives behavior change, and how to tackle digital adaptation (digital competence knowledge) for professionals.

In the context of innovation in healthcare, do you think we pay enough attention to the human aspect?

In general, we don't pay attention to the user (patient or healthcare professional), therefore not much into the human aspect. That's where Gamification really helps, as it's all about the user and their journey in a system. I think it's mandatory in health (and any other sector) to design together with and for the user, how they feel in each step, their fears, their motivations...

Can you share one European example about how mobile programs are changing patients’ everyday life?

I'd say more parts of healthcare are going digital, from prevention/education to adherence to treatment, and although they might not be great, it's a much needed step forward and can only improve. An example is an app for diabetes for teens, which had a very basic points-badges-leaderboard system, and teens graded the app 88% satisfaction, because they have to do this everyday, by obligation, so any little thing that makes it more entertaining or exiting, even if it's very little, has already a big impact on satisfaction.

What necessary skills should healthcare professionals have to fit innovation?

You do not need to be a hardcore videogame player to understand gamification; you do not need to be a programmer to understand digital. You need to be willing to try out apps, and other ways of doing "the usual thing". It really takes a smartphone and an open mind. If you don't succeed on understanding the app, it's the designer's fault, not yours.

Anna Sort

Jeroen Tas, CEO Connected Care and Health Informatics, Philips

Keynote speaker at eHealth Week on 8 June, 14:30 - 15:30

Session title: "Empowering people through human-centric connected care"

WHAT IS YOUR DEFINITION OF CONNECTED CARE?

To me, connected care represents the next generation of health care. It empowers but also motivates people to self-manage their health or chronic condition, enables them to collaborate with every member in their care team: care providers, caregivers and fellow patients. It’s also about data analytics helping pick up on early signs of health deterioration and making this information contextual and actionable to care providers to respond with the right care at the right time. Our health systems should help people stay healthy for as long as possible. Connected care can help make that happen.

WHAT ARE THE BIGGEST BARRIERS IN MAKING CONNECTED CARE A REALITY?

Technology such as IoT and Cloud can have an immense role in making health data accessible and engaging consumers in their health management. But we need to connect the dots and offer people an integrated experience instead of many fragmented point solutions. Technology alone won’t do the trick. It needs to come with a shared vision and change management to implement new ways of working so that patients and care providers are aligned and fully engaged.

DOES OUR EXISTING STRUCTURE SUPPORT CONNECTED CARE?

Current healthcare models are primarily aimed at dealing with sickness, as opposed to promoting health and therefore there is little incentive to implement preventative care strategies or prevent hospitalization. More attention needs to be placed on engaging with patients and encouraging them to take charge of their own health.

That said, there are definitely variations from country to country and The Netherlands in particular has an openness to create innovation. At Philips we are continuously working together with care providers and patients and all other stakeholders to push this agenda.

HOW IS TECHNOLOGY CHANGING THE ROLE OF THE HEALTH AND CARE PROFESSIONALS?

Like patients, health and care professionals become more empowered by information and technology. It will help them share information in unprecedented ways. Create virtual care teams that involve clinical experts on the other side of the world. For truly connected care, we have to look at how we triage care 24/7 and how healthcare professionals can support that. This means that the future role of part of our ICU nurses could evolve to being telehealth nurses, for example.

WHAT IS THE ROLE OF THE CIO IN THE CONNECTED CARE ENVIRONMENT?

You can’t only involve CIOs in this agenda as there is too much change needed. The CIO is more the enabler and the cheerleader. However, everyone involved in making connected care a reality needs to really understand the patient needs, shape these needs and then create a 24/7 approach to support that patient.

CIOs also need to be aware of information overload, data and information are critical but an oncologist, for example, doesn’t need to know every single detail about a patient to make a decision. They just need to ensure that every encounter is a relevant one and they have all the information that they need to create an effective journey with the best possible outcomes.

ARE SUPPLIERS DOING ENOUGH TO MAKE CONNECTED CARE A REALITY?

These problems are too complex for any one person or group to solve, we need to ‘co-create.’ At Philips that means that we facilitate the innovating process by bringing together CEOs, specialists, nurses, general practitioners and patients. We let them work together with our designers, IT experts, and specialists in the field of human behaviour. We then ask them: ‘if you were to design something from scratch today how would you do it?’ Then we take a step back and think about how we make that a reality. Suppliers are able to help push boundaries and provide with industry knowledge.

Jeroen Tas will be speaking at eHealth Week on Wednesday 8 June at 14:30. During his keynote, entitled “Empowering people through human-centric connected care”, Tas will give his view on how to overcome the barriers for successful population health management and he will share international proven approaches on eHealth.


Jeremy Theal, MD FRCPC, Chief Medical Information Officer, North York General Hospital Toronto

SPEAKER AT EHEALTH WEEK ON 10 JUNE, 09:30 - 10:30

SESSION TITLE: “How Big Data is Changing Healthcare”

The session you will be presenting in is called “How Big Data is Changing Healthcare” – what can we look forward to hearing from your presentation?

Big data can assist us in making better decisions as we provide care for our patients, from the individual right through to the population level. However, there are important pre-requisites for Big Data in healthcare to be both available and accurate. First, we need well-designed and adopted advanced health information systems, so that detailed clinical data can be collected in the course of providing daily care. Second, we need to ensure mindful data governance and stewardship principles are applied, along with regular data audits, so that collected data are accurate and correctly interpreted. Third, we need to enable automated data sharing with interfaces across systems, organizations, communities, and regions to ensure that population-level data sets are assembled and well-utilized. Each of these pre-requisites presents their own challenges – so, Big Data in healthcare is an attractive concept, but requires careful execution!

There is so much talk about Big Data but what are we actually doing with the data (in Canada)?

In my presentation, I will talk about how Big Data is being used at the individual, organization, community, provincial and national level in Canada. Examples of the ROI of Big Data will include clinical (such as reduced inpatient mortality), financial (reduced adverse events, reduced utilization of resources), and business intelligence (regular tracking of key performance indicators and quality outcomes at a provider, organization and system level).

Can you give an example of future usage of Big Data?

Big Data is already being used in fascinating ways in healthcare – everything from resource planning to disease outbreak surveillance. However, the best examples of how Big Data are used are still seen in small pockets of the system, without pervasive utilization. This is because implementation/adoption of advanced health information systems (required for collection and use of clinical data during daily care) is still limited in many countries, including Canada. In the future, I see Big Data being used more broadly and deeply, because its collection and usage will be ubiquitous; it will be available in real time to patients, providers, payers and planners alike.

Jeremy
Theal