Primary Care

 

How digitalisation can add value 

Hype over ‘telehealth’ is now largely a thing of the past. But there are ways that digitalisation can radically improve health care provision, and save significant amounts of time for both clinicians and patients. And many of the largest gains don’t require state-of-the-art software or advanced AI algorithms. 

The 20-30% AI productivity boost available to health care providers right now

AI has the potential to boost productivity in health care in myriad ways. The most transformative applications will take time to be implemented, not just because of the nascent stage of the technology itself, but also because of lagging regulation and change-resistant clinicians. But there are applications which providers can implement right now that can provide huge productivity boosts. Oskari Eskola, CEO of BeeHealthy, a Mehilainen (Finland’s largest private health care group) spin-out that helps providers and insurers digitise, talks us through some of these.

The London Clinic opens rapid diagnostics clinic

The London Clinic, a large private hospital in London, is opening a new diagnostics centre just across from its main site in Harley Street, London, to deliver fast diagnostics services to patients wanting to skip NHS queues.

UK pharmacists given green light to prescribe as primary care can’t cope

Pharmacists in the UK now have the right to prescribe for common ailments such as sore throats and earaches. In France, Ireland and Portugal pharmacists also have some prescribing rights and similar initiatives may be introduced in other European countries in the near future. Is this a solution to the GP workforce shortage? And will it be a good thing for private hospital and private primary care groups?

Interview: Alberto de Rosa, President of Ribera Salud

Have public-private partnerships had their day? Who better to answer this than Alberto de Rosa, president of Spanish hospital group Ribera Salud which was forced to pivot away from PPPs to fight off political opposition, and meet the demands of a shifting Spanish healthcare environment. HBI asks him how the model, in any form, might survive.

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