Challenge
In our present world of connectivity, mobility, stress and daily routine people do not have enough time to take care of their health, not just physically but also psychologically and this is amplified by business people who often suffer from burnout syndromes. Long working hours, not having enough time for hobbies, family or relaxation can have a big impact on the quality of life and longevity. When people take their time to relax, they are often unable to shut down from their work routine or their worries, also when the time spent recuperating is not being observed it can prolong the process or even hinder it.
Therefore, an increasing number of »stressed« but health-conscious people tend to use the different self-measurement tools available on the market to maintain and control their present state-of-health (vital data). As EHR files mainly focus on medical data and target tracking diseases, the interest in maintaining personal health in order to be able to take control of own fitness is growing.
The expansion of health tracking tools will continue to motivate the population to lead a healthy life-style as an option to prevent diseases and thus to become less of a burden to the health insurance companies as they have a monetary interest in keeping their customers healthy. Basically, health insurance companies are constantly striving to attract both groups, on one hand young and healthy people, because those who take care of a healthy live-style generate less costs and on the other hand non-conscious people with lack of social contacts or lack of health consciousness who pose an unknown risk factor. E.g. chronic patients and elderly people often have to measure their vital parameters regularly, which are then checked by medical personnel.
Aim
The health care center »Gesundheitzentrum« (GZU) in the middle of the Swiss Alps in Unterengadin has as a project business objective to provide a health tourism platform for the whole northern region. The developed solution of a »personal electronic Guest record« in the GZU wants to revolutionise the process of care by enabling guests to always have their vacation and vital information at their disposal via the GZU Unterengadin platform. The aim is to provide guests who book a vacation in this region an extended health tourism solution package with customised treatments and vacation activities which suit the visitor’s specific needs. The guests spend their time being on holiday at the same time in the care of GZU Vital coaches, who ensure their wellbeing by providing an optimal health vacation plan. Some benefits of this offer:
- Tracking of vital data and monitoring by coaches improves health awareness and provides sustainable awareness;
- Uncovers unknown risk factors;
- Recreation, relaxation and increased wellbeing in combination with an activity plan.
Additional to strengthening health awareness, the solution also addresses the promotion of health tourism by:
- Prevention – meeting the guests before they get e.g. a burnout;
- Improvement of the occupancy rate of the infrastructure;
- Offering a new healthcare product for the region – more returning guests;
- Preparation for a possible extension to the health insurance sector;
- Rollout to further regions in SWISS.
For the next phase starting in autumn 2018 additional features will be implemented:
- Connecting the tourist booking system to the portal for a more efficient offering of health and care services;
- Messaging – sending reminders before the next doctor’s meeting;
- Health journal – an overview of the vital data.
Solution
The solution combines the Vitaly Digital Wellness Portal with the RPM Biovotion wrist-band which enables GZU vital coaches to monitor the guest’s vital parameters before, whilst and after their vacation. Through access to the portal, further vital information and measurements provided by the guest allow for the preparation of an individual customised activity healthcare vacation plan:
- Tourists who are interested in healthcare holidays in this region can book a health package. They receive the Biovotion device two weeks before their stay to record their vital data.
- After arrival, a first meeting with the Medical Coach is prepared.
- During the stay, the visitor follows a tailored healthcare program and is accompanied by the Biovotion App which is tracking the vital data together with the medical coach.
- Health checks and mentoring by the coach are carried out during the whole residence and afterwards if requested.
- At the end of the holidays, a concluding conversation about the results with the coach takes place where the tourist receives recommendations for his everyday life, e.g. offering an individual nutrition-, activity— or health recommendation plan.
- By subscribing, the customer can continue to have access to the medical coach.
The portal supports the following features:
- Messaging and document upload functionalities enable the user a fully personalised digital experience of preparing and enjoying the vacation;
- Sharing plans, vital parameters and other outcomes when discussing them with the personal coach;
- Appointment booking;
- Video conferencing;
- The user also has the opportunity to automatically access their own measured values, save, document or maintain the data electronically.
Standards
Providing connectivity through broadly accepted international healthcare standards is a pre-requisite for the exchange of medical and healthcare data. Standards for the GZU portal are compliant to:
- HL7 FHI
- document submission follows IHE XDS metadata guidelines
- auditing follows IHE ATNA guidelines and uses HL7 FHIR as the format.