The scattered Belgian healthcare sector is steadily unifying. ICT is contributing to organizational innovation via a new generation of health providers open to cooperation.
In a recent interview for the Roadbook of Innovation—a joint initiative of iMinds and Accenture designed to stimulate the conversation in Belgium about innovation in the digital era— Marc Nyssen, Professor of Computer Science and Medical Informatics at the VUB and one of the driving forces behind Belgian e-Health, suggests that the latest developments here put Belgium in pole position for exporting innovation.
The healthcare sector has no other choice than to innovate permanently because it is regularly going through crises leading to reforms. The ICT road we have taken in recent years in Belgium is unifying different types of health providers who use different methods. With e-Health, we have a real opportunity to focus our innovation efforts on specific products that are easily exportable. To do this, every stakeholder needs to be involved and convinced of the advantages of going digital. We need powerful collaboration between the ‘private-public-academic’ triangle. The government takes care of the societal layer; the private sector gives us the possibility to react quickly and efficiently on a high-tech level; and universities develop innovative projects. This is a magnificent combination.
Recip-e, a flagship project
The ongoing introduction of the pioneering electronic prescription and Shared Health Records solution, Recip-e, as reported on DataNews.be and the federal government’s eHealth platform, offers Belgium an opportunity to support and promote e-Health innovation across Europe. Recip-e (encrypted electronic prescriptions) targets those who prescribe medication and treatments (e.g. physicians and dentists), those who execute prescriptions (e.g. pharmacists, nurses and physiotherapists), and those who use prescriptions (patients) at the same time. Every electronic data exchange occurs via the e-Health platform. The goal is to have the greatest possible number of Recip-e users. And when it’s working well in Belgium, when we have an economically viable product, there’s no reason to avoid exporting it.
Africa: A blueprint for healthcare innovation?
The benefits of e-Health in Africa are immediately obvious; by receiving electronic guidance via their phone, patients can avoid a 20-kilometer walk to their nearest medical facility for specialist advice. But you would be mistaken in thinking we don’t need the same tools here in Europe. Although we have a lot more doctors, healthcare is becoming increasingly expensive. Healthcare is not just about surgery. It’s also about all the surrounding factors, for example, reminding chronically ill patients to take their medicine. Open software and mobile technology offer huge potential for medical applications and prescriptions. However, we are still not making enough use of smartphones, which will prove to be essential for interacting with patients and reducing our healthcare costs. If we can take care of part of the ‘private person-health sector’ interaction in this way, the healthcare system as a whole will benefit from major cost reductions.
Extracts from the interview with Marc Nyssen originally published in the Roadbook of Innovation and an article subsequently published in La Libre Entreprise.
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