Innovation ecosystem for hospitals – summary of the discussion panel from the Autumn Program Conference of the Polish Federation of Hospitals

On December 2, 2021, as part of the Autumn Program Conference of the Polish Federation of Hospitals, a discussion panel “Innovation ecosystem for hospitals” was held at the conference center in Jachranka. The panel was chaired by Diana Żochowska, Head of Medonet. The panel participants included: Dr. Karolina Nowak, Director of the Warsaw Health Innovation Hub; Jarosław Kieszek, Director of the e-Health Center; Dr. Łukasz Jankowski, President of the Warsaw Medical Chamber; Agnieszka Weiner, Sales Director at Althea Polska; Mateusz Fedorowicz, Director of Telecare Development at SiDLY and Przemysław Kania, General Director of Cisco Polska.

The most important technological achievements in patient care

The first topic of the discussion panel “Innovation ecosystem for hospitals” was the issue of the most important technological advances or already implemented and operating projects that can most contribute to achieving a higher level in patient care. All the panellists answered the question.

The first one was that Dr. Karolina Nowak spoke, pointing to the activity of the project created by the Medical Research Agency Warsaw Health Innovation Hubof which she is the director. It is a platform aimed at creating an ecosystem of cooperation with private entities, start-ups and academic centers. The result of cooperation is to jointly create innovation and build the biomedical sector. So far, cooperation has been established with 20 business partners. The Warsaw Health Innovation Hub represents a new approach to cooperation with business partners – an ecosystem based on the exchange of information and experiences between the public and private sectors.

Jarosław Kieszek, the director of the e-Health Center, mentioned this National Immunization Programespecially the creation of a digital vaccination handling process that has played a key role in the success of the project. As a result, it was possible to ensure the logistics of vaccines, prepare the central registration, electronic vaccination card and the EU vaccination certificate. For the first time, all solutions were implemented at the digital level, including e-referral, remote enrollment, electronic pre-vaccination questionnaire, access to the electronic vaccination card at the vaccination point, as well as access to the certificate in the mobile application.

As Jarosław Kieszek emphasizes, the digitization of Polish health care is progressing, which benefits not only patients, but also medical specialists. Procedures and work culture are changing in the medical environment. Parallel to the National Vaccination Program, reporting of medical events and the exchange of electronic medical records have also become mandatory. These changes are also a milestone in the digitization of Polish healthcare. From July 2021, approx. 20 thousand. medical entities have reported nearly 100 million medical events. As for the first months of the system’s operation, this is a promising result, but it is still expected that it will be possible to achieve a much higher level in terms of the functioning of this solution.

According to Dr. Łukasz Jankowski, President of the Warsaw Medical Chamber, innovations in three areas could make medical services work more effectively. The first is to facilitate consultation between doctors, especially between doctors working in district and provincial hospitals, and doctors from clinics with a higher degree of referentiality. Real-time solutions would be useful here, for example operating as part of telemedicine devices or in the form of GP consultations, enabling the patient to be consulted during a visit to a specialist clinic.

The second valuable innovation, according to Dr. Jankowski, it would be a change of the doctor-patient relationship to a more personalized one, which would make it possible to create a dynamic similar to the relationship between the patient and his therapist or a woman tied to one gynecologist conducting pregnancy. Towards such a therapeutic relationship, it would be possible to allow the patient to contact his doctor by phone, who could coordinate the care of the patient and guide him through the system. The third useful novelty would be a fake news capture tool to facilitate the verification of information about the latest research, technologies and data. Much information is updated quickly, and doctors are not always able to keep up to date with everything and provide comprehensive answers to every patient’s question.

Agnieszka Weiner, Sales Director at Althea Polska, drew attention on artificial intelligence algorithms that improve and accelerate diagnostics and the patient’s therapy process. As an example of such technology, she mentioned the company Althea Polska, which she represents, which provides devices intended in particular for the imaging diagnostics market. Market novelties in this area are used in such a way that these tools can support doctors in the therapeutic process. Among the available equipment, there are devices that use artificial intelligence algorithms and learn in the process of performing tests, i.e. use by doctors and electroradiology technicians.

Artificial intelligence algorithms in diagnostics are an innovation that helps to obtain research results of the highest possible quality. They allow you to use the safest minimum dose of radiation for the patient, reduce noise, remove artifacts and sharpen images. Thus, they constitute a technology supporting the diagnostic process. Agnieszka Weiner also emphasized that artificial intelligence algorithms are of particular importance in the context of pediatric and pulmonary protocols

Another panelist who answered the question about the most important technological achievements in the area of ​​patient care was Mateusz Fedorowicz, Director of Telecare Development at SiDLY. In his opinion, it is a significant undertaking a pilot project implemented by SiDLY together with the Ministry of Health, i.e. telemedicine bands for postovid patients. The devices collect data that allows the primary health care physicians and NZOZ to conduct more effective diagnostics, e.g. to refer the patient to in-depth examinations towards specific groups of diseases. An example is the analysis of the pulse, which may be the basis for further cardiological diagnostics and the detection of a cardiological disease.

The wristbands allow you to measure parameters such as pulse and saturation. As part of the project, over 824 were performed on a group of 250 patients within two months. pulse measurements and 250 thousand. saturation measurements. During a medical visit, a patient using a telemedical wristband may have information collected by the device on the phone, which will allow the doctor to adequately manage the patient’s treatment. According to Mateusz Fedorowicz, this project is one of the key undertakings to develop home care for patients.

Przemysław Kania, CEO of Cisco Polska, spoke last about the greatest achievements in patient care. He noted that the pandemic has significantly accelerated digitization, especially in healthcare. It was possible, among others introduce methods of quick consultation between doctors, thus improving their work. According to Przemysław Kania, teleporting deserves attention as well, which, if appropriate solutions are used, video communication and information exchange can work very effectively. Many companies also contributed to better availability of services and secure access to data in the times of the pandemic. As for the technological achievements that help hospitals, the CEO of Cisco Polska mentioned the implementation by his company pro public bonus a project involving the use of demonstration videoteramals for communication between covid sections of the hospital without the time-consuming disinfection procedure.

Readiness of the Polish health system to implement innovations – successes and barriers

In the next part of the panel, Jarosław Kieszek spoke about the readiness of the Polish health system to implement innovations, including the successes so far and the obstacles that stand in the way. The starting point was the issue that the provision of new e-health services takes place in a specific order, from the idea, setting priorities by the Ministry of Health and transferring the idea to the e-Health Center, i.e. the implementer of such initiatives.

The creation of services takes place at the central level to integrate them with existing systems, including IKP or a mobile application. The key is here cooperation and good communication with software supplierson which the success of the project depends. Another challenge, according to Jarosław Kieszek, is also acquiring qualified employees from the IT market with enormous wage pressure and limited resources. However, projects aimed at the development of the health system are ambitious and recognizable, which draws the attention of potential employees. It also helps to attract young talents through internship programs for students. The next point is readiness of medical professionals to use new solutions. Not everyone is ready for this right away, so it is imperative to guide the implementation process through training, information, and service preparation through new tools.

The three areas mentioned above are the main challenges that are addressed on an ongoing basis in order to consistently implement the planned innovations.

Assessment of government support in implementing innovations in hospitals

Dr. Karolina Nowak, Director of the Warsaw Health Innovation Hub, spoke about the legislative support for the implementation of innovations in the healthcare system. He met with a positive opinion on the part of the panelist government plan for the development of the biomedical sector. The first step of this plan was to map the areas for funding, and based on this analysis, four priority actions to be implemented were created. The first is changes in management in the biomedical sector, including the development of tools and the support of health managers. The second area is financial support for projects in the field of personalized medicine, which, according to current trends, is the future of therapy. As a medical research agency, Warsaw Health Innovation Hub will focus on financing projects in the field of personalized medicine, including cell therapies and gene therapies.

Another, third important area requiring development are medical devices, including diagnostics, the use of artificial intelligence, big data and data centralization, as well as financing projects in the field of medical devices, diagnostics and therapy. The fourth area is the support for developing enterprises and those offering more technologically advanced solutions. Acceleration programs and technology transfer centers are also taken into account, which will ensure a holistic approach to the entire health care system.

Who bears the costs related to innovations in health care – Ministry of Health, National Health Fund, treatment units, patients?

As noted by Mateusz Fedorowicz, Director of Telecare Development at SiDLY, funding is an essential element to introduce innovation in hospitals and medical units. Today, in many cases, hospitals cannot afford to innovate due to the cost of equipment or training. There is also a problem with staff shortages that make it impossible to conduct training – the time it takes to conduct training is often delayed, because the medical staff is burdened with duties to such an extent that there is not enough time for training and learning related to the introduced innovations. Getting to know new products means not only getting to know the technology, but also learning how to apply them in practice.

If the financing mechanisms allowed to relieve the staff in order to provide time for the implementation of new technologies, it would be easier to achieve results. The introduction of generally available solutions to patients was also delayed by COVID-19. According to director Fedorowicz, when the coronavirus pandemic eases, there will be financing mechanisms and time to implement innovations. In such conditions, it will be much easier to introduce such solutions, and hospitals will be able to take advantage of them.

How to popularize among patients and doctors the use of innovative solutions already available on the market?

According to Agnieszka Weiner, Sales Director at Althea Polska, in order to popularize the available innovations among patients and doctors, the greatest emphasis should be on educational and information campaigns. An example of an area where education is extremely important now is vaccination, including issues related to its importance for individuals, but also for their family, friends, and everyone else who may potentially become ill. The problem of education on vaccination can be comparable in the case of implementing innovations.

A good tool for disseminating educational and information campaigns would be social media that allow you to reach different target groups and ages. Users of smartphones, smartwatches, tablets and laptops are already partially implemented in innovations. Starting with this group, it may be easier to disseminate technological innovations. In the opinion of Agnieszka Weiner, a good way to promote innovation would be to present it based on the problem of the individual. Focusing on a specific person and how a given innovation helped them allows for deeper identification. The problems of the community often do not have such a strong resonance and clout.