CASE STUDIES - HEALTH TECH
MEET THE COMPANIES TRANSFORMING THE DELIVERY OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE
THIS WEEK WE ARE HIGHLIGHTING THREE OF THE COMPANIES REVOLUTIONISING THE DELIVERY OF MEDICAL CARE IN THE NETHERLANDS 🚀🚀🚀
Health and Social Care is a sector with an enormous GovTech opportunity in The Netherlands. Our report into the Dutch GovTech sector found that 37% of startups focused on the public sector have healthcare as their primary market. This is part of a broader trend: the global market for technological innovations in healthcare is now worth €385b. With a health system consistently ranking at the top of international rankings, and a deep base of innovative HealthTech companies, The Netherlands has a real opportunity to benefit from new health technologies.
CASE STUDY Â - SIILO - SECURE COMMUNICATION WORKFLOWS FOR HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALSÂ
Siilo is a secure communication app for healthcare professionals. The app uses messaging, voice and video calls to securely enable the instant discussion of patients and protocols between colleagues, without interrupting workflows.
While closely resembling other messaging apps, Siilo integrates specific safety solutions, including siloing data exchanged via the app in an encrypted vault and automatically deleting messages after 30 days unless specified. Other privacy features include the ability to blur images and augment them with arrows for emphasis, as well as exporting threaded conversations to electronic health records.
Before Covid, episodes such as the WannaCry ransomware attack of 2018, which cost the NHS in the UK £92m, had already underlined the fragility of communications between clinicians. When the health crisis hit, medics flocked to Siilo. Registrations for the free app increased by over 300% in March and April, while the number of messages sent increased by over 200%.Â
Based in Amsterdam, the application has uptake in medical settings across Europe and is trusted by hospitals in The Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Ireland and the UK. Siilo is now Europe’s largest medical network, with more than 275,000 healthcare professionals exchanging more than 25m messages per month on its platform.
CASE STUDY - NORI HEALTH - A SUPPORT CHATBOT FOR MANAGING CHRONIC CONDITIONS
In 2019, 44 % of the Dutch population aged 65 and over reported having at least one chronic disease. Nori Health provides a chatbot coach for people that live with such conditions, to help them identify and respond to what is making them sick.Â
Nori Health specialises in the treatment of Crohn's disease and Colitis, and is the only CE-certified digital program for patients with these conditions. Nori is an AI-driven chatbot, which, aided by a catalogue of 100+ research papers, supports patients through an 8-week lifestyle improvement program. Nori breaks down habit building into bite-sized learnings, helping patients to change unhealthy behaviours and enhance mental strength, alongside medical treatment.Â
By making lifestyle changes that target the severity of the disease, Nori helps individuals to improve the daily management of their condition by up to 30%. Testing completed in collaboration with the Dutch Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation returned 75% patient satisfaction rates with the service and a further 56% of patients indicated they no longer missed out on key social events. These results help strengthen patient faith in existing treatment, improve medication adherence and, in turn, reduce pressure on medical centres.
Based in Utrecht, the application was developed in collaboration with medical researcher experts at the University of Southampton and University of Washington. Nori Health also works with selected hospitals to create partners who can offer year-round support in between doctor visits for the target patient group, and drive the innovation culture in hospital settings.
CASE STUDY - MEDEYE - VERIFYING MEDICATION ADMINISTRATIONÂ
The most common mistakes made in hospitals and long-term care facilities are medication errors. MedEye is an Amsterdam-based HealthTech company using AI-powered verification techniques to reduce these errors and improve the efficiency of medication provision.Â
MedEye operates as a second, digital nurse. Healthcare professionals simply place patient medications in a disposable tray, which are scanned and verified. Unlike conventional barcode checks, the product allows hospitals to verify all 5 rights - including appropriate doses - simultaneously. MedEye integrates seamlessly with hospital information and is capable of handling all of the documentation required in the hospital information system. In turn, this helps nurses to act more confidently and with less stress, thereby improving the efficiency of healthcare.Â
Patients are also empowered by MedEye’s app, which involves them in their own therapy. The application provides an overview of the medications patients are taking, and informs loved ones when they are taking them. Reminders are also provided for self-administered medications, which patients register on the hospital information system. This integrates them into the system providing their care.Â
In 2018, MedEye was nominated for the ‘Nursing Home of the Future Challenge’ by the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport to promote the use of technology in nursing homes. Interzorg was the first such nursing home to implement MedEye in elderly care, and the pilot has helped nurses at the institution safely deal with prescription changes. MedEye is used in a number of hospitals in The Netherlands, and the company has recently signed a partnership deal with SynMed to bring the product to the US market.