Beyond bariatric surgery: A pilot aftercare programme for bariatric patients in Germany

A pilot aftercare programme offering a six-month nutritional counselling and weight monitoring service to qualifying bariatric patients was initiated by KKH, a major health insurer in Germany; thoughtful presentation of evidence and effective communication of observed problems by KKH staff was crucial for gaining the managerial support needed to start the initiative; capitalizing on existing infrastructure minimized the need for additional resource investments; active patient participation has been encouraged, with health education and counselling used to empower pilot participants to adopt healthy behaviours; continuation of the initiative will be determined based on a comprehensive analysis of collected data once the pilot reaches its target number of 100 participants.

Telemedicine for improved access to diagnostic services for remote populations in Paraguay

Telemedicine system introduced to improve access to specialist services for remote populations; primary and secondary health centres now collaborate with specialists from tertiary level hospitals on diagnostic services; telemedicine system transmits medical images to specialists; specialists provide diagnostic services to isolated health centres.

Telerehabilitation for patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in Denmark

A pilot programme to test home-based telerehabilitation for COPD patients was designed and implemented by researchers at Aalborg University; a supportive political and legislative environment provided a platform for furthering the development of e-health and telemedicine; partnerships with stakeholders outside the health sector supported the development of telemedicine and helped drive service delivery transformations; patients were given a more active role in care and new collaborative partnerships between patients and providers were developed; success of the initial pilot led to a larger-scale study with greater involvement of regional and municipal actors.

Digital Health and Care Congress 2017. Embedding technology in health and social care.

NHS England's Next steps on the five year forward view outlines the plan to harness technology and innovation over the next two years but what's really happening on the ground? Join us at this two-day event to hear the latest policy updates and learn from case studies showcasing best practice from around the country.

Patient-Centered Methods for Designing and Developing Health Information Communication Technologies: A Systematic Review

Chronic disease management and maintaining healthy behaviors to prevent disease are important lifelong considerations. Adherence to prescribed management and behaviors often falls short of physician recommendations, which can result in negative health outcomes. Information communication technologies (ICTs) offer an approach to combat this issue. However, uptake and sustainability of ICTs have mixed results. One reason could be that technologies are often created without an understanding of the complexities of patient needs. Therefore, the intent of this study is to explore the current landscape of patient-centered design and development of health ICTs through a systematic review.

WHO Guideline: recommendations on digital interventions for health system strengthening

The key aim of this guideline is to present recommendations based on a critical evaluation of the evidence on emerging digital health interventions that are contributing to health system improvements, based on an assessment of the benefits, harms, acceptability, feasibility, resource use and equity considerations. For the purposes of this version of the guideline, the recommendations examine the extent to which digital health interventions, primarily available via mobile devices, are able to address health system challenges along the pathway to UHC. By reviewing the evidence of different digital interventions against comparative options, as well as assessing the risks, this guideline aims to equip health policy-makers and other stakeholders with recommendations and implementation considerations for making informed investments into digital health interventions.

Covid-19: a remote assessment in primary care

Novel coronavirus disease 2019 (covid-19) is an urgent and spreading threat whose clinical and epidemiological characteristics are still being documented. With a view to containing covid-19, a shift from in-person to remote consulting is occurring. Clinicians are thus faced with a new disease and a new way of interacting with patients. This article will present some guiding principles on how to choose between telephone and video appointments, how to conduct a “query covid” consultation remotely, and considerations when arranging follow-up and next steps.

Identifying barriers in telemedicine-supported integrated care research: scoping reviews and qualitative content analysis

Integrated care is said to improve the way in which care is delivered. To support integrated care by ensuring close collaboration between involved stakeholders, information and communication technologies, especially telemedicine, are needed. Despite their potential, most telemedicine solutions never make it from pilot project stage to full implementation into usual care. Especially in integrated care scenarios, understanding of the barriers hampering successful telemedicine implementation and application is limited.

Telemedicine for housebound older persons during the Covid-19 pandemic

Hollander and Brendan highlighted the benefit to decision-making that may be drawn from the use of automated screening algorithms in prioritizing patient care to better allocate resources during the Coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.  A strategy to screen older community dwellers at risk for home confinement-related adverse consequences must, therefore, be adopted based on an efficient and effective forward triage framework. In older community dwellers, assessing frailty is a definite cornerstone of triage, as it provides insight into the degree of vulnerability in their health status and their risk for adverse consequences. 

The Centre of Excellence on Longevity of McGill University (Quebec, Canada) designed, in late March 2020, a short assessment known as “Evaluation SOcio-GERiatrique” (ESOGER) for Montreal’s housebound community-dwelling older adults. It acts as the first step in connecting older community dwellers who are housebound during the ...

Impact of Proactive Integrated Care on Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

In the United States, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) affects over 16 million people, costs $32 billion per year, and is the fourth leading cause of death.Exacerbations of COPD are among the most devastating complications of COPD, because they greatly increase the risk of death and account for 60% of COPD costs.Efforts have focused on standardizing recommendations for therapies that improve symptoms and limit exacerbations, identifying patients who might benefit from these treatments, and increasing compliance with recommended therapies.Surprisingly, only about 50% of COPD patients receive recommended therapies for COPD and COPD exacerbations, up to two-thirds of COPD exacerbations are not reported to health care providers,and only half of primary care physicians use COPD guidelines. Therefore, novel methods to improve health care delivery could bring substantial benefits, and may be particularly important given the disruption in health care due to the recent coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

Realising Integrated Care

IFIC Ireland hosts and facilitates a series of six webinars titled ‘Realising Integrated Care’ which forms one of the key delivery mechanisms enabling knowledge mobilisation across all stakeholders with an interest in developing and implementing integrated care within the healthcare systems on the island of Ireland. 

Meaningful use of a digital platform and structured telephone support to facilitate remote person-centred care - a mixed-method study on patient perspectives

Process evaluations are useful in clarifying results obtained from randomised controlled trials (RCTs). Traditionally, the degree of intervention usage in process evaluations is monitored by measuring dose or evaluating implementation fidelity. From a person-centred perspective, such evaluations should be supplemented with patients’ experiences of meaningful use, given that intervention use should be agreed upon between interested parties and tailored to each patient. This study aimed to elucidate patients’ experiences of a remote person-centred care (PCC) intervention by deepening the understanding of, if, how and for whom the intervention contributed to meaningful use.

Common procedures of remote measurement-based care in an integrated behavioural health context: protocol for a scoping review

Integrated behavioural health, a model of care that embeds mental health services in primary care, can potentially increase access to mental healthcare. With the increase in health information technologies, remote measurement-based care (RMBC) presents an opportunity to improve support of integrated care. This scoping review will comprehensively examine what common procedures are followed when RMBC for mental health is tested in integrated care settings.

Patients’ preferences for telemedicine versus in-clinic consultation in primary care during the COVID-19 pandemic

The Hybrid Patient Care system integrates telehealth and in-clinic consultation. While COVID-19 increased telehealth use, healthcare providers are still seeking the best combination of virtual and in-clinic consultation. Understanding patients’ tele-consultation-related preferences is vital for achieving optimal implementation. The discrete choice experiment (DCE) is the stated preference technique for eliciting individual preferences and is increasingly being used in health-related applications. The study purpose was to evaluate attributes and levels of the DCE regarding patients’ preferences for telemedicine versus traditional, in-clinic consultation in primary care during the COVID-19 pandemic, in order to facilitate successful implementation.