Better@Home is harnessing telemedicine to provide at-home care and ease hospital pressure.

Hospitals are facing huge pressures with growing multi-morbidity and chronic disease in people across Europe. Meanwhile, the number of hospital stays is increasing and there is urgent need to find a cost-effective alternative to ensure the quality of care for all, while enabling healthcare professionals to give more time to emergencies.

Hospitalisation at home is proven to increase efficient healthcare provision by reducing costs and boosting patient satisfaction. But the current model of delivery isn’t sustainable as it often consists of a full, dedicated team of physicians and nurses visiting patients’ homes. What’s needed is to harness existing technology and create new processes to deliver a remote healthcare service that simulates the care received in hospital, without overstretching hospital resources.

Cutting hospital costs, relieving hospital pressures and enhancing patient care

Better@Home provides an integrated solution that uses technology to improve the care of patients hospitalised at home. Patients will be monitored using devices that measure their vital signs and report back to a healthcare professional who will follow up with the patient remotely.

For this to work, Better@Home will be need to be integrated within existing hospital care workflows, which requires solutions to connect the whole network, from the patient’s home to the hospital.

Better@Home will build protocols to enhance process efficiency; find ways to connect with the existing hospital technology systems; create plans for a support centre to carry out administrative tasks; and provide solutions for primary care providers to exchange patient information.

Better@Home will be able to monitor and treat a variety of conditions that require hospitalisation, from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), to pneumonia, infections and heart failure.

EIT Health enables care delivery and patient management

EIT Health brought together five key partners from the worlds of education, research and healthcare delivery to enable Better@Home to come to life. Better@Home will be developed and implemented at the Hospital Infanta Leonor in Madrid, joining together all the vital pieces of the jigsaw to make this pioneering innovation a reality.

External partners

• Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de Valdecilla (IDIVAL)
• Shared Services of the Portuguese Ministry of Health (SPMS)