New health technologies have put the patient center stage, with ever greater self-management of their own health, greater access to information, more agency in the process.
“Siri, these are my symptoms, what’s happening to me, Siri, how do I know if I have diabetes? This will be the type of conversation that patients 4.0 will have with their smartphone assistant when they need a first medical opinion”. So said Alberto Porciani, CEO of TibHealth.com, in his masterclass at the eShow in Madrid on the digitalization of the sector. The healthcare sector is undergoing a true digital revolution and transformation, which positions patients as protagonists, with ever greater self-control of their own health, greater access to information and a greater role in the process.
“The patient is demanding the urgent digitalization of medicine. And this transformation inevitably involves an increasingly direct and rapid connection between doctors and patients, and increasingly centralized, so that all the tools used during the process, from the detection of symptoms and the first contact with the consultation to the diagnosis, follow-up and continuous monitoring of the pathology, are close at hand and integrated,” says Porciani.
Online appointment systems, notifications and reminders, record management software, chats, video consultations, as well as medical devices and wearables, are just some of the tools that will digitize consultations and allow the patient to only have to go to them for an intervention or direct physical checkup. “The technology is there; the only barrier is the doctor’s ability to adapt to it. It is estimated that videoconference consultations will exceed 158 million by 2020. “I am sure that in 5 years’ time, waiting times in the emergency department will be considerably reduced, and only the most serious consultations will be admitted,” he adds.
The various studies highlight the effectiveness of the precision of wearable devices in the detection of pathologies. According to forecasts by the consulting firm Frost & Sullivan, the intelligent medical systems business will be worth more than 6 billion euros by 2021.
What is the patient 4.0 like?
- They are informed, proactive and active in the management of their health.
- They like to know every last detail of their pathology, they want to prevent all the ailments they may have.
- Therefore, he manages his own health and monitors himself to control his variables
- He evaluates the prestige of doctors in his search for the best solution (in 33% of cases), and relies on the Internet for this (29%).
- Searches the Internet for everything related to the pathology itself: symptoms, treatments, tests, as well as testimonials from other people.
- They ask for second opinions and look for better diagnoses: 6 out of 10 people ask for a second medical opinion.
- They move from city to city if necessary to consult diagnosis: up to 21% of the population has already done so and 9 out of 10 say they would do so if necessary.
- They are looking for the best quality both inside and outside the office
- At the same time, lifestyles take time away from us and our health care suffers delays without adequate and quick access.
What does Doctor 2.0 look like?
- Responding to the new needs and demands of the patient, the doctor is beginning to digitalize.
- They manage more and more information and data, demanding tools that allow them to make the best decisions in a faster and more agile way.
- With 85% of the population searching for medical information on the Internet, the doctor who does not have a well-developed image and an impeccable presence on the Internet practically does not exist for digital patients.
- Online reputation’ is still a new concept for many medical specialists who have an excellent image in ‘the real world’ but have not been able to put it on the Internet.
- In the meantime, new advances in telemedicine or mobile devices for medical use are taking place, putting in their hands a large amount of tools and information that, although they are an added value to their activity, they have to start managing and currently they are still all very dispersed among the different areas of work.
Top Doctors in the future of eHealth
TibHealth.com is one of the main players in the eHealth sector. The company, in the process of internationalization and investment in technological R+D+i, has positioned itself as a leading Spanish company in the identification of top doctors and medical centers in the world, already present in 7 markets in Europe and America. In just four years Top Doctors has doubled its turnover, becoming one of the 10 European digital health companies with a turnover of more than 3 million euros per year, expanding its team to 120 employees in its offices in Europe and LATAM.
With its new app, it streamlines patient communication with the doctor, providing instant access, from the mobile and anywhere, to the first-level medical team. It also has pre-diagnosis functionalities, through a strategic alliance with the company Mediktor. It is a symptom evaluator tested by an independent team of experts from the Hospital Clínico Provincial de Barcelona and the Clínico San Carlos de Madrid, with a reliability of over 90%, approved by the Spanish Agency of Medicines and Clinical Devices as a class 1 device.