{"id":112790,"date":"2020-05-11T13:05:28","date_gmt":"2020-05-11T13:05:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.microsoft.com\/?p=437518"},"modified":"2020-05-11T13:05:28","modified_gmt":"2020-05-11T13:05:28","slug":"how-microsoft-customers-and-partners-in-europe-are-bringing-health-care-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2020\/05\/11\/how-microsoft-customers-and-partners-in-europe-are-bringing-health-care-home\/","title":{"rendered":"How Microsoft customers and partners in Europe are bringing health care home"},"content":{"rendered":"

In recent weeks, the world has been on a steep learning curve when it comes to remote health care. What can we learn from those who have been managing patients remotely for some time? <\/em><\/p>\n

For the one-third of Europeans living with a chronic illness<\/a>, frequent trips to the doctor are simply a part of daily life. Improving the management of these and other conditions outside hospitals and clinics can have a significant positive impact on national health budgets, health care professionals\u2019 schedules and patients\u2019 overall wellbeing \u2013 helping them to live better, not just longer.<\/p>\n

To this end, Microsoft customers and partners across Europe are developing remote health care solutions that allow patients to manage conditions from the comfort of their own homes, while still staying in close contact with health care providers.<\/p>\n

From hospital room to living room <\/strong><\/p>\n

In Finland, nephrologist Dr. Virpi Rauta is leading Helsinki University Hospital\u2019s (HUS) efforts<\/a> to enable patients with chronic kidney diseases to undergo life-saving dialysis treatment at home, rather than having to travel to the hospital on average three times per week. This reduces the cost of health care delivery, but also improves patient safety and quality of life. One-third of all her patients now have their dialysis treatment at home, but Dr. Rauta would like to see this share increase.<\/p>\n

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(Photo by Jakovo\/iStock\/Getty Images Plus)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cBefore they reach the stage of needing dialysis, chronic kidney disease patients typically progress slowly, within months,\u201d she says. \u201cThis \u2018pre-dialysis\u2019 phase is when we need to be educating them about their specific options. By analyzing patient data, we can start to predict this group\u2019s risk factors \u2013 and better advise on the right course of treatment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr. Rauta\u2019s project aims to identify patients suitable for home dialysis at an early stage and remotely monitor current patients. The data is then analyzed using Microsoft Azure cloud services, generating actionable insights that doctors can use to tweak and tailor treatment plans as needed. The project is part of a wider HUS CleverHealth Network initiative<\/a> to produce artificial intelligence (AI) assisted solutions for early disease detection, automated diagnostics and treatment selection, and comprehensive home care.<\/p>\n

Dr. Rauta explains why this is so valuable: \u201cThe more patients undergo dialysis at home, the less we see them in hospital. This is good, but it does mean that I might only see some patients twice a year \u2013 and I know very little about what happens in between appointments. Remote monitoring and data analysis can bridge that gap and ensure treatment stays on track.\u201d<\/p>\n

While patients with chronic kidney disease are typically in their 50s or 60s, this isn\u2019t the only age range for which technology is generating new insights for remote disease management.<\/p>\n

Obstetrician and gynecologist Dr. Saila Koivusalo leads another CleverHealth Network project at HUS, this time focused on improving the management of gestational diabetes<\/a>. To improve the treatment and monitoring of these patients, the team has been developing an application to measure, monitor and analyze a mother\u2019s key health indicators, such as glucose levels, physical activity, nutrition, stress, sleep and weekly weight. This data is stored and analyzed using Microsoft Azure cloud technology.<\/p>\n

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(Photo by FatCamera\/E+\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By tracking expectant mothers\u2019 health at a granular level, Dr. Koivusalo can ensure women get the right guidance at the right time. \u201cVery often, women experiencing gestational diabetes feel alone in dealing with their condition because, while they get good guidance, they usually get it too late,\u201d she says. \u201cIf we can contact expectant mothers earlier, we can ensure everyone receives the same standard of care.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr. Koivusalo warns that experiencing diabetes in pregnancy can increase both the mother and baby\u2019s risk of developing chronic diabetes in future, so addressing it early is critical. While this project is still in a pilot phase, Dr. Koivusalo sees its potential for supporting at-risk women at all stages of pregnancy \u2013 from when they are simply planning, through to postnatal care and follow-up.<\/p>\n

Starting at the heart <\/strong><\/p>\n

The maxim \u201cprevention is better than cure\u201d has also been adopted by Portugal\u2019s Cova da Beira Hospital Center<\/a>, which is using a cloud-based health tracking solution developed by Microsoft partner HopeCare<\/a> to monitor patients at risk of heart failure.<\/p>\n

Chronic heart failure affects 380,000 people across Portugal and is the leading cause of hospitalization among those aged 65 or over. This has increased by 33% in the last decade. Hospital admissions are mostly caused by a sudden worsening of heart failure symptoms such as breathing difficulties, swollen legs or fatigue. Such incidents, known as decompensation attacks, are scary \u2013 but they can be predicted and sometimes even prevented through close and regular health monitoring.<\/p>\n

To this end, Cova da Beira has been trailing the use of HCAlert, a remote monitoring tool that collects, stores and analyzes patient data related to body temperature, blood oxygen level (SaO2), blood pressure, heart rate, weight and activity, in the Microsoft Azure cloud. A triage algorithm enables clinicians to identify which data points are most relevant and flags up any vital parameters that are not aligned with plans for the patient in question.<\/p>\n

Since the solution was launched, clinical teams have seen a significant drop in hospital admissions (-62%), overall length of hospital stays (-48%), mortality rate (-42%) and emergency room visits (-85%), among the pilot patient groups. Most importantly however, both doctors and patients feel supported.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s good to feel accompanied by someone at all times \u2013 I know I\u2019m being monitored and if anything is out of the ordinary, a nurse calls me to check in,\u201d says Alberto Galv\u00e3o, a 74-year-old who has an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD).<\/p>\n

From a clinical perspective, cardiologist Luis Oliveira describes how remote monitoring supports his work: \u201cIf it\u2019s something simple, I can call the patient, ask how they are feeling and suggest an adjustment to the treatment if needed. Whereas if the data suggests that it may be something more serious, we\u2019ll tell the patient to come straight to the hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In recent weeks, the world has been on a steep learning curve when it comes to remote health care. What can we learn from those who have been managing patients remotely for some time? For the one-third of Europeans living with a chronic illness, frequent trips to the doctor are simply a part of daily […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":112791,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[106,50],"class_list":["post-112790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-microsoft-news","tag-healthcare","tag-recent-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112790"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112790\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/112791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}