Tag: rimidi

CARE ON OUR OWN TERMS.

We look at how patients are becoming consumers and are driving the growth of virtual technology in healthcare.

One of the most relevant discussions for the future of UK healthcare, was not taken in any formal setting. My colleague was not visible on my Skype screen, and I was some 500 miles distant, sitting on my sofa, drinking tea.

It is an irony that is not lost on either of us. At a time when the key assumption of the benefit of the HIMSS  2018 Conference, is face to face interaction, my counterpart Kaveh Safavi of Accenture is eloquently discussing the essential benefits of his Presentation on virtual healthcare, that he made just a few hours earlier sitting in Barcelona; and I am nowhere to be found.

“Virtual healthcare” has taken over as the buzzword from the more difficult term “A.I”, which nobody could understand. And it is not before time. If the WHO is saying that by the year 2030, we will have a shortage of some 15 million healthcare professionals – the one thing we don’t need is to carry on putting in place more and more clinics, with longer and longer waiting times, for an ever increasing number of patients, with nursing staff that we do not have. Better option is first enabling our existing resources to work optimally.

We have reached a critical moment where the population (that’s you and I) – are increasingly comfortable using our smartphones, our Apple Watches, our connected meters, etc – to deliver our our health data to responsible health people who can manage this. But our health service providers are standing still in their acceptance that things have to change. And so, if this remote interaction works – and the technology exists to bring health data remotely into the distant screens – why is the rate of traction in Europe and certainly the UK – so slow?

The answer is many and varied, and it comes from not communicating the benefits – and also a myopic fear on the part of our providers, of losing their jobs or reducing their salaries. From experience of automation in the commercial sector, neither of those latter scenarios actually would take place.

So far, virtual healthcare has been limited in its explanation, to automatically registering a patient appointment – to go to a clinic, let’s say. But this misses the point. The real benefit is far deeper than that. If we associate virtual healthcare with long standing conditions, let’s say Diabetes for example – (where remote tech is now starting to get traction) – patients and providers will get the immediate benefit of more rapid diagnosis, more motivated and engaged patients, far less cost per patient in monitoring. And they need never visit a clinic at all. In some clinics, holograms have taken over from even seeing a real person.

In short – virtual healthcare is convenient. It also increases the “quality” of the service provided; Because sure if things are wrong and your data is untoward – only then do you go to your clinic, and your Nurse will have far more time to see you, and your discussion will already be personalised and entirely based on the health data you have already sent, in real time, through the very technology you are already wearing on your wrist. You will not be rushed out of the door.

I take a pause in my dialogue with Kaveh and glance at my Apple Health app on my watch – my heart is beating a bit quicker, apparently. I think I’ll take another cup of tea.

How to Manage Diabetes.

We look at the plethora of Diabetes “solutions” and focus on our best of breed.

The apparent growth in the market, so to say, of people suffering from Diabetes – has not been unnoticed by software and clinical solutions vendors – and yet it seems such a surprise, nonetheless. It is redolent of overnight pop-star successes, who have been quietly carving their career for the past decade, but without public recognition. Until now.

The question tho – is that, from among the vendors of solutions that are now visible – which ones will fly and which are merely good eggs?

The answer is not about clinical excellence. You can safely say that all diabetes solutions have their merits. The answer is about understanding their market, and having the gotomarket strategy and planning, to execute that strategy.

This is the forte of the RIMIDI company, whose CEO, Lucie Idea, talked to me a few evenings ago.

The RIMIDI solutions sits in the hospital itself, but can be accessed online.

Let’s start with the key points – there are two. RIMIDI is a clinical solution borne out of accidental observation. Lucie is a Doctor in her own right, but with a background in VC Finance. Having spotted the opportunity, it was a logical next step to create an App that focuses on the essential problem – how to get patients to monitor their own situation in an easy to do, way; and how to access and then use that info, in ways that can make a clinical difference – and therefore, a commercial difference for the hospital concerned. RIMIDI crosses the bridge from being a “clinical” data transfer solution – to one that empowers the Community. There is a strong and unique focus on “wellness”, joining up of the dots, for the clinician to see the Big Community Picture.

But more than that – RIMIDI focusses commercially on strategic alliances with the big EHR vendors (they have a white label agreement with Cerner) – as their means of getting bandwidth. This is astute – but also worrying. Whilst it avoids the need for the sales process – it also loses control. in many ways this recognition explains the presence at HIMSS. The Cerner collaboration gives implicit credibility in front of the myriad of individual hospitals that will pass by.

Ultimately RIMIDI success will come down to Lucie’s view as a pragmatist; her final words put it well” “RIMIDI is about saving time. Any solution can get information together. At RIMIDI, we make it possible to save time doing what every clinician needs to do, and what every Community needs to deliver.”.

The question will be, with Lucie’s VC background – will there be a buy-out in the next year or two? Or will RMIDI as a brand become a market leader, and saw a range of similar Apps? We hope it will be the latter.