AMSTERDAM, November 17, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --
- 2.5 year scientific evaluation of
European integrated care programs and
2,500 surveys provide
unparalleled insights on success factors of
connected care programs across the
European Union
- Advanced Care Coordination and Telehealth Deployment (ACT)
program addresses EU's aging population and
burden of managing chronic conditions
Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX:
PHIA) and its ACT-program consortium partners today announced the
debut of a 'cookbook' outlining key enablers necessary to scale
connected care and telehealth programs. The cookbook is the result
from a two-and-a-half year scientific evaluation of data from
different connected health programs in five European regions. It
provides new insights that apply across the EU on why certain
telehealth programs are more successful than others.
(Photo:
http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20151116/287519 )
(Photo:
http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20151116/287520 )
Connected care is seen by many governments as essential to
enable more efficient, patient-centric and continuous care for the
aging EU population; however, although many local connected care
pilot programs are successful, they fail to scale and their
potential impact is not fully leveraged.
The consortium researched data from patients with COPD, diabetes
and heart failure in programs in the Basque Country (Spain), Catalonia (Spain), Scotland (UK), North of the Netherlands, and Lombardy (Italy) and conducted 2,500 surveys
and group interviews with participating patients and care
providers.
The consortium found that the scalability of care coordination
and telehealth is possible, but requires significant organizational
change to successfully execute the process. It also unveiled
critical areas in which progress is required in order to enable the
transformation to more sustainable healthcare systems.
The cookbook advises that patients are assigned a single point
of contact when enrolled in care coordination programs with several
institutions and care providers to prevent them from feeling lost
and diverging advices. Staff engagement is critical as in programs
where staff understanding and engagement levels were high patient
adherence was better compared to programs with lower engagement
scores. Preventative care programs outperform reactive healthcare
delivery. Improved standardization and interoperability within the
European Union would enable benchmarking and leveraging successful
programs beyond local pilots.
"A significant portion of our population is 65 years or older,
and managing chronic conditions continues to put stress on our
healthcare systems," said Andrus Ansip, Vice President, Digital
Single Market, European Commission. "Smarter use of innovation is
crucial in order to enable active aging and healthy living. The
ACT-program illustrates care coordination and telehealth can be
very successful instruments to address care needs. The cookbook
will inspire the necessary debate on system transformation and will
help with the scaling of future connected health programs."
"Successful coordinated care and telehealth are principally
about organizational change," said Professor Stanton Newman of Health Psychology, School of
Health Sciences, City University London,
UK. "To achieve the best outcomes for patients, we need to
review the way these organizations are structured and make sure
everyone is aligned on the objectives and goals of integrating care
coordination and telehealth into patient care pathways."
"Connected care is critical to the future of our healthcare
systems," said Jeroen Tas, Chief Executive Officer, Healthcare
Informatics Solutions and Services, Philips. "The ACT research
shows that successful connected care services may start with having
the right technology, but it is truly about the holistic approach
of technology, processes and people to make an effective
transformation."
The cookbook is available for download and more information can
be found on the ACT Program's website:
http://www.act-programme.eu
Uniting leading European healthcare experts from a number of
domains, the ACT program is part of the European Innovation
Partnership on Active and Healthy Ageing (EIP-AHA). The EIP-AHA is
an initiative from the European Commission under its Innovation
Union strategy, and aims to increase the average healthy lifespan
by two years by 2020.
Background information on the study results and regional
programs can be found here.
About Royal
Philips
Royal Philips (NYSE: PHG, AEX:
PHIA) is a diversified health and well-being company, focused on
improving people's lives through meaningful innovation in the areas
of Healthcare, Consumer Lifestyle and Lighting. Headquartered in
the Netherlands, Philips posted
2014 sales of EUR 21.4 billion and
employs approximately 106,000 employees with sales and services in
more than 100 countries. The company is a leader in cardiac care,
acute care and home healthcare, energy efficient lighting solutions
and new lighting applications, as well as male shaving and grooming
and oral healthcare. News from Philips is located at
http://www.philips.com/newscenter.
About ACT
The ACT consortium members include:
- Royal Philips
- Universitätsklinikum Würzburg, Germany
- Aristotle University of Thessaloniki,
Greece
- Telbios, Italy
- UMC Groningen, The
Netherlands
- Kronikgune, Spain
- Consorci Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi i Sunyer, Spain
- Agencia D'informació, Avaluació I Qualitat En Salut,
Spain
- Servicio Vasco de Salud-Osakidetza, Spain
- NHS 24, Scotland, United
Kingdom
- University of Hull, United
Kingdom
- City University London, United
Kingdom
- Guy's & St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, United Kingdom
And affiliate members:
Foundation Zorg Binnen Bereik (Care within Reach), Amersfoort,
The Netherlands; Center of
Technology in Medicine and Health (CTMH), Sweden; Basque healthcare technology provider
(OSATEK ), Spain; Galicia Region
(SERGAS), Spain; Saxonia Region,
Germany.
For further information, please contact:
Steve Klink
Philips Group Communications
Tel.: +31-6-10-88-88-24
E-mail: steve.klink@philips.com