Digital medicine: these are the eHealth Trends 2020

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How will health care change in 2020? We have prepared a forecast of the most important digital health trends for you.

The eHealth and mHealth Trends 2020 include the prescription app, smart medical things, telemedicine, medical deep learning and data protection in medicine. Some of these digital health trends are really picking up speed this year, others will only be ready for the market in the coming years, and others such as Data protection is up to date every year. It is therefore worthwhile to follow the development of all trends.

eHealth Trend 1: App by prescription

It is expected that doctors will be able to issue prescriptions for health apps to their patients from the second quarter of 2020. By March 31, 2020, the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians must therefore develop a security concept and, together with the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI), certify manufacturers of such apps. CE-certified, the tested apps then end up in the directory for digital health applications (DiGA directory), in which all health apps subject to health insurance are listed. In addition, the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM) must have tested the app according to criteria such as security, functionality, quality, data security and data protection and as a medical device.

If these requirements are met, the app is provisionally reimbursed by the statutory health insurance for one year. During this time, the manufacturer must prove to the BfArM that its use improves patient care. The manufacturer then negotiates how much money the manufacturer receives with the umbrella organization of statutory health insurance. The Federal Association of Medical Technology (BVMed) has one position paper submitted for inclusion of digital health applications in health insurance reimbursement. In it, BVMed proposes seven measures to implement the Digital Care Act (DVG) through the directory for digital health applications, which is managed by the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM).

eHealth Trend 2: Telemedicine

After the German Medical Association has paved the way for telemedical consultations even in first contact, this market is now slowly developing. The current example is KRY enters the market Beginning of December. The company offers a platform for doctors to conduct and bill ehealth consultation hours in the respective healthcare system. Just like KRY, TeleClinic, a startup from Munich, also cooperates with doctors who are registered in Germany and are based here and has relied heavily on the telephone in patient contact. There is also Medgate Germany, a Rhön Klinikum subsidiary in cooperation with Medgate Switzerland, and Zava, which previously acted as DrEd for selective indications from London. The professional association of German dermatologists (BVDD) has recently been involved in the highly competitive telemedicine market. Its Swiss platform OnlineDoctor is aimed exclusively at self-payers.

As part of the telemedicine project Telnet @ NRW 10,000 patients have already been cared for. For smaller hospitals in particular, such telemedicine-based care associations ensure high-quality care close to where they live. Televisites enable the 17 hospitals currently participating in the project and their doctors to exchange ideas with experts from the university clinics in Aachen and Münster about optimizing treatment.

InSight Telepsychiatry and Regroup Telehealth announce their merger to become the largest and most comprehensive provider of telepsychiatry to become in the United States. The merger will leverage the collective partnerships, expertise, leadership, network of providers and resources of both companies to improve access to care for those who need it most. This year Philips Future Health Index shows that telemedicine is not yet an integral part of the daily work of medical professionals in most of the countries examined, including Germany. If it is used, then primarily for the professional exchange with colleagues and less for communication with the patient.

eHealth Trend 3: electronic patient record

The managed service provider working for various statutory health insurance companies Bitmarck commissioned the Viennese company RISE as a partner in the development of a standardized, electronic patient record. In 2018, RISE supplied a BSI-certified connector for the telematics infrastructure on behalf of Gematik. In view of the tight schedule of the legislator to introduce the electronic patient record on January 1, 2021, both partners are under time pressure and have already started project work.

In relation to the electronic patient record (ePA), 62 percent of those surveyed by the Philips Future Health Index stated that they would like to see their data, although they currently have no access or no knowledge of such access. 24 percent, however, reject the ePA and 14 percent are still undecided about this.

eHealth Trend 4: Smart medical things

In the future, an intelligent implant will monitoring the healing of broken bones after an operation and warn against incorrect loading. If a bone grows wrong, the smart helper should even take countermeasures with movement. A Research group of the Saarland University plans to develop such an implant over the next five years, which should make complicated fractures heal faster and better.

3D printers are also increasingly used in medicine. That too UKM (University Hospital Münster) relies on the process. With the 3D-printed models, the surgeons prepare themselves optimally for an operation and not only improve the result, but also reduce the operating time by 10 to 15 percent. The basis for 3D printing is CT images, which are processed using software. Researchers from ETH Zurich and the South African company SAT developed an artificial tailor-made Heart valve made of 3D printed silicone, In the future, this could help meet the growing need of an aging society for replacement heart valves.

Experts agree that the number of medical robotics applications will increase over the next few years. For example, doctors can use the robotic system Sculptura by Sensus Healthcare Target tumors in the body during surgery. And with the lightweight robot LBR Med of automation and robotics specialist Kuka, several application scenarios are conceivable: e.g. Carry out ultrasound examinations independently and with constant pressure or assist the doctor with operations on the spine.

eHealth Trend 5: Medical Deep Learning

More and more research projects and startups are dealing with artificial intelligence in medicine. For example, the research project is investigating True BrainConnect at the Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin non-invasive systematic connections between brain regions to draw conclusions about possible disease patterns. In the future, dementia or Parkinson's should be detected at a very early stage – thanks to an improved evaluation of brain waves measured by electroencephalography (EEG), even in the future without surgical intervention. Scientist of the LMU, the Helmholtz Zentrum München and the TUM have developed an algorithm that automatically recognizes metastases. The new technology even finds single scattering cancer cells throughout the body of mice. To make such innovations accessible to doctors and clinics, there are, among others Telepaxx MarketPlace, a marketplace for medical devices.

According to the Philips Future Health Index, 41 percent of medical professionals in Germany use AI-based technologies in their daily work. This puts them roughly on par with their US colleagues (33 percent). Only Italy (59 percent), France (54 percent) and China (85 percent) are ahead of German and US medical professionals. One field of application for AI is, for example, diagnostics, in which it is used for improved image quality or automated detection of abnormalities in findings.

eHealth Trend 6: Data protection in medicine

Techniker Krankenkasse (TK) has ended its cooperation with the Berlin company Ada Health. The reason the TK refers to is the lack of data protection in the Ada Health health app, reported by security expert Mike Kuketz and the computer magazine c’t. Shortly thereafter, the AOK Nordost also has its Cooperation with Ada Health discontinued due to data protection concerns.

The Federal Commissioner for Data Protection has announced that it will focus more on protecting health data. Ulrich Kelber, as he told the Tagesspiegel, is also responsible for the attacks on hospitals. Healthcare facilities should not work with expired operating systems or insecure cloud services. Health apps would need to be better checked for data protection. Therefore, the topic of data protection remains a perennial favorite, which still occupies a large place in the healthcare system and should not be neglected by any healthcare provider.

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