The future of patient care
In the coming decades, innovative integrated systems will ensure the efficient treatment of patients with chronic diseases. A telemedical platform acts as a centralized service and information tool for cross-sector bundling of expertise.
Radical developments will permanently change the German healthcare system in the coming decades. Demographic change, the increase in chronic diseases and the associated multimorbidity will require that all parties concerned must have the courage to follow new paths and develop and implement innovative care concepts in precise and unconventional ways. Only in this way can the essential balancing act between higher quality of care on the one hand and reduction of costs on the other hand become possible.
Cross-sector care systems
Specific approaches are particularly necessary for chronic diseases such as coronary heart disease, cardiac insufficiency, diabetes with all of the deleterious consequences (chronic wounds, diabetic foot syndrome) and asthma/COPD, which mean that a new care system is urgently needed. Particular promise is shown here by chronic care models that establish cross-sector care systems, bundle interdisciplinary expertise and bring together out-patient, in-patient and rehabilitative facilities. However, this means that profound structural changes become unavoidable to eliminate the current sectoral separation of different service areas.
Telemedicine as a basis for information flow
The latest technical developments and corresponding logistical requirements now provide Vitaphone with a realistic basis for implementing a centralized telemedicine-based service and information tool to be used to control the information and data flow between patients, hospitals and attending physicians. Only with an appropriate telemedical platform can cross-sector patient care be guaranteed – in the sense of a continuous line of care from out-patient through in-patient to rehabilitative care, even in the field of in-home care.
The advantages of integrated concepts
The advantages of care management are clear and range from enhanced quality of life for the patient to capabilities for therapy control and supervision for the attending physician and greater cost efficiency for cost units. A further confirmation of our commitment to push ahead with the development of integrated care concepts is provided by valid healthcare economics data with clearly verifiable high savings potential, the proof of reliable implementation of guideline-oriented therapy and the undisputed high acceptance among the patients and physicians who are familiar with the models. Only in this way can we succeed in providing optimal solutions for the present and future in view of the wide variety of challenges facing modern medicine.
