Let Technology Help Healthcare
Report of BMT Symposium Let technology help healthcare
dd 17 June 2011
Speaker 1:
Prof Oei - How to make care better + How to make care more cost-effective?
Example 1:
In the Netherlands, 12.5% of children are born prematurely. Of these, only 50% survive. The cost of this is on average 50 000 euros per child, or 800 million a year.
Administering progresterone helps keep the uterus calm and can halve the number of preterm births. However, conventional means fail to determine risk cases.
Electrohysterone can be used to determine whether the uterus is restless. A newly developed sensor (the contraction patch) uses this principle and is easy to apply.
Example 2:
In the Netherlands, almost 2,000 patients die every year, in about 70% of cases due to human error, a large part of which is caused by poor cooperation (transfer etc).
In Eindhoven, team training courses are held in a simulation centre. This involves simulating a real-life situation. The teams usually forget within 10 minutes that it is a simulation.
Research shows that after such training the number of babies with oxygen deprivation drops by 50%, and also the number of babies with brain damage drops by 50%. Such training is now mandatory for all gynaecological centres.
The cost of medical errors amounts to €1.4 billion a year in the Netherlands. Assuming that training in a simulation centre could halve the number of misses, it would make sense to train all medical specialists in the Netherlands, which would save 700 million euros. For 15000 specialists x 5000 euros per specialist, the cost would be 75 million euros. The net savings would still be 625 million euros per year.
Example 3: High infant mortality in the Netherlands (2-3 x % in countries like Belgium and Sweden).
Research shows that this is mainly caused by miscommunication between first and second line. In NL, the risk of transmission in the first child is 70%, half of which occurs during childbirth itself.
In addition, a higher % of women in the Netherlands are dissatisfied with their childbirth (20% compared to 10% in England). One issue is the perceived lack of attention. In response, Prof Oei then showed a video about a new initiative using the contraction sensor (patch): an App for coaching during childbirth. With this, controlled breathing can also be practised beforehand. During childbirth, the information from the sensor is visualised in a tree on which branches are growing leaves. The direction of the branch, the distance between the leaves and the size of the leaves give information about the contractions. By projecting the tree on the wall, when the physician enters the room, he can immediately see how labour is progressing.
Speaker 2:
Paul Smit
Currently, 1 million people work in healthcare. By 2025, 60% more staff are expected to be needed in care than today: 470 000 extra people. In the other sectors, only an additional 19 000 persons are expected to be needed. This increases the % of GDP spent on care from 14% now to 24% in 2025. (Interestingly, he later notes that care delivers more than it costs: care gives a return of 30-130%).
Reasons:
- we eat more, move less
- we expect more and better care but don't know the cost.
- we live longer and are sick more.
Interestingly, 5 out of 10 conditions with the highest risk of dying are caused by unhealthy lifestyles.
Coronary disease, stroke, diabets, lung cancer, arthrosis.
In addition, productivity growth in care is lower than in industrial sectors.
His proposal is not to ration healthcare but to future-proof it. How?
- improvement processes: a la in industry; in industry this happened under the influence of competition (which is largely absent in healthcare)
- prevention!!!
- productivity growth: if it is possible to increase productivity by 4% every year, no extra people are needed in healthcare.
- Measuring is knowing. Faster diagnoses. E.g.: unravelling one's own genome now costs 5000 euros. In 10 years' time it is expected to be only 500 euros. This will allow the effectiveness of treatment (drugs) to be determined in advance = saving money and time.
- Network care
- chronic => insitutional care (my notes are no clearer).
Conclusion:
Prevention ++
Production ++
Acceleration of innovation in acute care + for chronic patients
Admission system for new treatments much faster.
Speaker 3:
Ben van Miltenburg
Topic: what they are doing now (analysis/change in mindset + emphasis on quality (new for health insurers)
They have extracted all kinds of interesting info from their database.
Vb: COPD: 3% of insured, but 9% of spending.
1: Prevention and lifestyle: improvement to be achieved?
2: Is there much difference in best - worst practice?
=> then negotiate quality based on the data.
Analysis GP groups in Friesland: most expensive = 2 x cheapest.
- Monitoring
- Self-management
- Over / undermedication + psyched / fun factor + social media / communities in younger groups = v tips and motivation.
Lifestyle adjustments counselling : lots of gains to be made.
In Diabetes, they see exactly the same thing.
Perspective in 10 years: investment wooin the chain yields a lot. Investment now, return later.
Timeframe in NL: 2-3 years = too short.
Current infrastructure inadequate
New technology -> quality improvement?
Collaborate with industry for return in 10-20 years.
A few more examples:
Medication box: medicine box that only opens when the pill needs to be taken.
Client houses: locations where certain determinations are made without a doctor (e.g. cholesterol)
Robotics: in US army, soldiers are operated next to the battlefield using an operating robot controlled from Washington.
Description
Currently, healthcare in the Netherlands has full attention for various reasons. Sometimes the reason is negative because of an incident, sometimes the reason is positive because an innovative development can improve the quality of care. In each case, technology plays a decisive role. For example, the rapid development of ICT affects the way care is provided now and in the future. Technology can provide a solution in working out upcoming cuts in healthcare, which may also lead to a reduction in the number of hospitals. Another trend is the shift from 2nd to 1st-line care and home care, and thus the increasing role of home automation and "self-care management".
In short, there is every reason to dwell at length on the role of technology in healthcare. KIVI NIRIA's BMT department has succeeded in putting together a fascinating programme in which you will have ample opportunity to actively participate in the discussion, including in the form of a debate.
13:30 Reception
14:00 Welcome by Ir. René Drost,
chairman Biomedical Technology - KIVI NIRIA
14:05 Opening by chairman of the day
Ms Annemiek Goris, Director STG/Health Management Forum
14:15 Prof.Dr. Guid Oei, gynaecologist Máxima Medisch Centrum Eindhoven
14:40 Dr.Ir. Paul Smit, independent consultant healthcare innovation.
15:05 Ben van Miltenburg, member of the Executive Board of De Friesland Zorgverzekeraar
15:30 Break
15:45 Forum discussion
16:30 Drinks
18:00 End
Speaker(s)
- Prof.Dr Guid Oei, gynaecologist and trainer perinatology at Máxima Medisch Centrum Eindhoven, professor TU/e and medical director Multidisciplinary Education and Simulation Centre (Medsim)
- Dr.Ir. Paul Smit, independent consultant , member Zorg Innovatie Platform (ZIP), former Senior Vice President at Philips Healthcare
- Ben van Miltenburg, member of the Executive Board of De Friesland Zorgverzekeraar
- Annemiek Goris, Director STG/Health Management Forum, Member of the Supervisory Board of Gezondheidscentrum Lombok in Utrecht
Location
Prinsessegracht 23, 2514 AP The Hague
Organiser
Medical Technology
Name and contact details for information
Further information via the e-mail address below.