ACTIVITIES :: eTen :: Projects :: Projects of the Month :: HealthService24

January 2006 Project of the Month: HealthService24

Continuous Mobile Services for Healthcare

Issues being addressed

hs24 HealthService24's target is to provide support to the forthcoming changes in the healthcare industry and give solutions to the problems of the different players in the health market. Change in the healthcare industry is driven and influenced by various forces, like increasing budget and deficit problems stemming from an increase in the number of people with chronic diseases, erosion of traditional business models of the pharmaceutical industry due to shortening period of exclusivity, need for hospitals to manage and control administrative and treatment related costs and most of all increasing demand from the patients to be closely involved in the care process (patient empowerment).

HealthService24 proposes a solution to these upcoming challenges, by validating and preparing the launch of innovative, mobile patient monitoring and management services. This is done with the design and integration of a healthcare services platform based on state-of-the-art communication networks and technology.

The HealthService24 platform is based on advanced concepts and technologies, like Body Area Networks (BAN), 2.5/3G wireless broadband communications (GPRS/UMTS) and wearable medical devices. HS24 will provide integrated and comprehensive mobile healthcare services to patients, such as management of chronic conditions and detection of health emergencies.

Objectives of the project

HealthService24 aims at developing a viable mobile health care service, permitting healthcare professionals to remotely and interactively diagnose and treat patients whilst the patients are free to continue their normal daily life activities. The HealthService24 will allow patients and non-patients to monitor their physical condition and obtain advice and information at any place and moment.

The main objective of HealthService24 is to test the feasibility of the deployment of the mobile healthcare services via trials that will validate the precise conditions to be fulfilled for the subsequent deployment of the services.

The HealthService24 project will address the study of the related social aspects, working conditions and the related economic issues stemming from the deployment of its services on a larger scale, including the changes that will be brought to the processes and practices of the healthcare organizations and medical personnel. HealthService24 will define the needs, expectations and requirements of all members of the value chain and will create added value and benefits for all value chain members, as only such an approach can make a sustainable market deployment possible.

The Consortium

The HealthService24 consortium consists of 8 partners:

Ericsson Enterprise AB (SE) – Project coordination
University of Twente (NL) – Project Technical Management
University of Cyprus (CY) – Hospital Information System support
Hospital Clinic Provincial de Barcelona (E) – Healthcare provider
Medisch Spectrum Twente (NL) – Healthcare provider
LITO POLYCLINIC PARALIMNI LTD (CY) – Healthcare provider
TMS International B.V. (NL) - Medical Systems manufacturer
Yucat B.V. (NL) – Mobile Business Solution development

Expected benefits

The HealthService24 is aimed at patients and health care professionals. Patients will be able to stay mobile and have a fairly normal lifestyle while being constantly monitored. Constant monitoring is especially important in case of chronic and high-risk patients, e.g. patients discharged early from hospital after a surgery and high-risk pregnant women that require constant monitoring. These patients today are often hospitalised for long periods, resulting in high hospital costs and moral degradation. The HealthService24 will enable them not to stay at a hospital while increasing their feeling of safety and comfort, allowing them to obtain health advice by experts at any moment and place.

At the same time health care costs, resulting from the occupation of a hospital bed will be reduced.

The cost reduction aspect makes the service potentially interesting for health insurance companies and governmental institutions paying for medical services.

Achievements

The Project web-site is available providing documentation and information on the project status and evolution.
In September 2005 the integrated system was released by the University of Twente and since then three trial scenarios are running:
- High Risk Pregnancies in the Netherlands at the Medisch Spectrum Twente hospital in the Netherlands
- COPD Patients at the Hospital Clinic Provincial de Barcelona in Spain
- Cardiac Patients at the LITO Polyclinic in Cyprus
A business plan has been defined and the technological partners have adapted their strategies in view of the commercialization of the project results.
The system has been presented at several international events, like Medica, Mednet, and Contel, and promoted to hospitals and organizations.
The project has also been advertised in the press, to government bodies and agencies and seminars and presentations have been given to public schools and Universities (both medical and technical).

Reference Data

http://www.healthservice24.com/
Contract Type: Market Validation
Start Date: February 2005
End Date: July 2006
Duration: 18 months