Recently, millions of patients have realised how their health is dependent on access to a healthcare facility infrastructure. For the clinics and physicians, the pandemic brought a double challenge: providing access to care for COVID-19 patients and keeping chronically ill patients under control so that they can stay safe at home. It became clear that continuity of care for large patient cohorts required reliable communication channels and decision-support systems.

“During the novel coronavirus pandemic, telemedicine facilitates workflows, freeing up local healthcare capacities. By constant monitoring of the different data points, care teams can follow what is happening with the patient, being able to react properly. This is far more than remote patient monitoring – it’s remote patient management,” says Jörg Aumüller, global head of marketing digital health at Siemens Healthineers.

The partly automatised, but highly personalised care continuum

According to the recently published HIMSS e-Health Trendbarometer: Telehealth Adoption in Europe, before the COVID-19 outbreak, seven out of ten health providers targeted chronic patients when implementing telehealth services or solutions. With the rising burden of chronic diseases and new perspectives gained from the coronavirus pandemic, remote care is becoming a new standard of health service.

This flexible approach to care that embraces monitoring tools, patient engagement, reliable communication and decision guidance is for Siemens Healthineers, a key catalyst in designing digital health solutions for chronically ill patients. Solutions supported by artificial intelligence, orchestrate the process of delivering care and decision-making. Random care is being transformed into a consistent journey which improves outcomes, boosts patient experience and enhances the quality of care.

Changing the economics of health and the new patient-journey

“The need for communication methods that open the possibility to provide health services without the physical presence of the patients, exploded in recent months. Regardless of the different scenarios of applying remote care management solutions – whether for chronically ill patients, prevention purposes or monitoring of hospital staff – telehealth demonstrated essential value in creating sustainable healthcare,” Aumüller tells Healthcare IT News.

In the long run, the pandemic will change the economics of healthcare by promoting highly specialised and affordable health services globally. Aumüller notes that shared decision making and patient empowerment establish a background for cooperative care. For health providers, digital health platforms are fundamental for this transformation. They are a starting point of scaling up new digital services for connecting care teams and patients, streamlining operation management and supporting diagnostic and therapeutic decision-making.

Adjustable software for high-quality, efficient care

To help providers in the digital shift of care, Siemens Healthineers’ introduced 'teamplay myCare Companion' – a remote care service for chronically ill patients. This web-based platform and a dedicated smartphone app keep patients engaged, manages the workload of the health provider and supports the decision making process.

teamplay myCare Companion is one of the solutions and services integrated within teamplay Digital Health Platform, which helps care providers to create a mature digital health infrastructure, adapt their telemedicine programs to patient characteristics and internal workloads.

All-in-one digital health platform

Find out more about how remote care management solution, 'teamplay myCare Companion' by Siemens Healthineers supports the patient and care teams and learn about the benefits of remote care management during the COVID-19 pandemic.

HIMSS e-Health Trendbarometer

The recently published eBook describes telehealth maturity in Europe shortly before the COVID-19 outbreak. Learn about the most significant challenges for telemedicine and the impact of COVID-19 on the adoption of digital health services.