General details
EDIHs involved
Challenges
Wellbee, a Greek start-up, developed a cloud platform that allow its users to access their complete medical record history, in a usable and meaningful way. Medical records in Wellbee platform can be searched, managed and shared per user request. Medical records are not stored locally in the platform but can be accessed by the owner, using the platform. Data can be shared with insurance agencies, doctors or even loved ones while ensuring transparency and accuracy. The company is a new-comer in the health sector and aspires to bring the medical records at the hands of their owners and their medical partners. The company had no prior experience in the sector, however what they did have was, a useful idea and a fresh business model for exploiting the scattered medical data.
This collaboration between Wellbee and smartHEALTH EDIH came to fruition as a result of the partnership previously established with the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN). Members of the Greek node of EEN brought this client into contact with EDIH experts. Consequently, smartHEALTH experts were invited to meet two expectations of the company. On one hand, experts needed to review the platform to ensure its compliance with the health sector’s specific requirements regarding the non-functional characteristics. On the other hand, smartHEALTH was asked to provide technical expertise and synthetic data with the purpose of testing the operation of the platform.
This opportunity to utilise smartHEALTH’s services was of great importance for the company. In one regard, this opportunity was significant as there was no one else in the market with such expertise, that was at the same time, able to provide such services. In another, the ability to provide the proof of concept of the platform is strong evidence for collaborators and investors that the idea is ready for further deployment into the market.
Solutions
SmartHEALTH experts from FORTH/CeHA have extensive experience in developing software solutions for the health sector. They are part of a team that develops and supports 200 software applications, which are used in more than 60 medical departments. WellBee's challenges perfectly matched their capabilities for assessing the platform. The challenges were two. First, to provide consultation about the theoretical requirements that the platform needed to fulfill. Second, the platform had to be tested with data based on real-world situations.
The experts initially identified 3 main categories for consultation: 1) Scalability, Portability and Performance, 2) Compatibility and Interoperability, 3) Security and Privacy. The methodology behind the service provision included interviews in which the company representatives discussed these topics in detail. The experts provided a detailed report with the identified facts, potential risks, gaps and the standards needed to comply with. The assessment was absolutely positive, with no gaps, the platform demonstrated full functionality, security and effectiveness. Additionally, recommendations for introducing future functionalities and compatibility with interoperability protocols were given to the company.
In order to test the platform with data, the experts developed a specific API (Application Programming Interface) for the platform and provided it with synthetic data. The team was able to test the platform with synthetic data, which yielded absolutely successful results. This opportunity allowed the company to find the necessary expertise and to utilize the precise data to validate the platform. It is important to note that, the company had been searching for this kind of service before, however there was no other available source in Greece that could provide such data.
Results and Benefits
The company had two objectives, to have a proof of concept and to test the platform with suitable data. Through this collaboration with smartHEALTH EDIH the company was able to achieve absolutely positive results for both of their objectives. On one hand, now the company has a proof of concept that can demonstrate the viability of the platform to both investors and potential users. On the other hand, the company gained valuable insights about the full technical background needed for their platform as this was included in the detailed report provided by EDIH experts.
The opportunity to test the platform, with the provision of a specific API and synthetic data, was equally significant for the company. SmartHEALTH provided the data and shared the results of the testing process with the company, which showed there was absolutely no problem with the platform as it behaved as expected.
The company is now ready to introduce the platform to the relevant market and to investors. Already, discussions with a large private hospital and an investor are taking place. The proof of concept that company received from EDIH is important for these discussions.
After securing the technical soundness of the platform, the company is now turning into further develop the UI (User Interface) with the aim to make it more user-friendly.
Perceived social/economic impact
The launch of the application is expected to offer great social benefit. There are millions of citizens globally that need to have their medical records accessible for them and their medical professionals. Today, citizens have to organize a multitude of data alone. For example, when a citizen visits a doctor, they need to have the relevant medical information, however, generally a lot of time is wasted for both the citizen and the doctor organizing this. The platform WellBee gives the opportunity for citizens to view their medical data and share it, upon request, with their doctors, insurance companies or the public health system. With this new process, which presents easily accessible information, citizens could be provided with better and more accurate medication. Additionally, it also gives the citizens the opportunity to have all of their medical data gathered under the same platform.
The business model of the company surpasses the legal obstacle for storing locally medical records. WellBee asks permission directly from the user to access their data at the source, however, nothing is stored in the platform, instead, the user is just able to view the data on the platform.
The adoption of Electronic Health Records (EHRs) has significant economic implications for both individual citizens and the broader healthcare system. From a citizen's perspective, the economic impact can be understood in terms of cost savings, productivity gains, improved access to care, and health outcomes. For the healthcare system, adopting EHRs could influence areas such as efficiency, cost management, patient care, and data management.
It is important to mention that even though the adoption of EHR systems is usually accompanied by challenges such as initial costs and privacy concerns, the adoption of WellBee would successfully address these issues. The cost for the user is low and the privacy is protected because the platform is not storing the data locally.
Measurable data
In the Health sector there are strict requirements concerning Privacy, Interoperability and Cybersecurity. For this case, the experts of smartHEALTH identified 3 main categories for assessing the IT platform of the company:
1) Scalability, Portability and Performance: 9 parameters examined, all of them were successful and require no further change.
2) Compatibility and Interoperability: 10 parameters examined, of those, 8 were successful and 2 will require change in the future in order to be compatible with other interoperability protocols.
3) Security and Privacy: 24 parameters examined, all of them were successful.
From the testing process, 5 synthetic medical records were used from the platform. In all cases the platform operated absolutely fine with the data used.
DMA score and results - Stage 0
The DMA questionnaire completed twice. First, when the services started and secondly after the completion of the services. The company realized increase of 6% in the performance recorded.
Lessons learned
The major lesson learned, from the EDIH perspective, is that many companies could enter the health IT sector, as new-comers, without prior experience and extensive knowledge, especially when it comes to medical data. The gaps that these companies are facing could be bridged with the EDIHs. Companies, not previously working in this specific sector, have the chance to benefit from EDIHs in order to receive proper guidance to enter and introduce new services or innovative business models, thus, increasing their competitiveness, development and growth.
From the client perspective, a lesson learned is that SMEs need external expertise for a number of issues that go beyond their knowledge and reach. It would be very hard for the specific client to find such expertise and services, anywhere else on the market. The collaboration with an EDIH could give all the answers needed.
For other EDIHs, our recommendation is to work in such cases, which are repeated and require consulting services that are not directly offered by the market. In Greece, we see that there is a rather large group of companies that want to enter the health sector with software solutions. These potential EDIH clients need experts to demonstrate their solution, to receive consultation about their approach and to test their solutions with data that is not easy to obtain. Other sectors have similar challenges, with companies interested in entering in a new sectors and not only lacking knowledge on how that sector is operating but also lacking relevant testing data. For example, AI in manufacturing requires relevant expertise and data.
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