Patient platforms emerge
It is the sheer volume of users that is most striking about today’s new patient platforms.
Patient platforms have really taken off, that is the really notable thing from reviewing the entries for the Best Patient Platform HBI Business Model Innovation Award which will be given out tomorrow night at our awards dinner.
Finalists include businesses with powerful outpatient networks and so a lot of patient touch. Terveystalo in Finland has 660,000 registered users for its app – that’s 12% of Finland’s population! Patients use it to look at their records and chat with doctors 24/7. Or take Ada Health, an AI-driven diagnostics tool which many say is uncannily accurate. It has assessed 3.5m conditions in the 18 months since launch.
They are also increasingly sticky. Online B2C lab test provider Werlabs claims that 40% of its users sign up for an annual subscription. Insurer Aetna claims that in India its app has led to a 70% drop in physical consultations as patients in big cities prefer to use text or video.
And demand and usage are growing. Medicover in Poland has 166,000 users for its app which enables patients to see records, talk to a doctor and look at results. In the 28-day period before Medicover applied for the award, no fewer than 66,000 users were active!
Operators who have less patient touch such as hospital groups which offer one-off surgery or lab groups where tests are mainly sent and read by doctors, rather than patients, should take note. Sophisticated patient platforms are entering the hearts and minds of millions of European health care consumers now.
We would welcome your thoughts on this story. Email your views to Max Hotopf or call 0207 183 3779.
