- June 29, 2022
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- Digital
Using technology to solve some of the health sector’s most pressing issues was the focus of the afternoon session of ICT Spring Day 2. The talks showcased some of the most innovative and collaborative projects in the field today, bringing together experts from the Luxembourg Ministry of Economy, medical officers, doctors, health policymakers, and others.
The afternoon session of ICT Spring day 2 officially began
with Master of Ceremony Carole Brückler (Head of the Digital Health
Technologies, Luxembourg Ministry of Economy) welcoming the crowd. She then
invited Luxembourg Minister of the Economy Franz Fayot for an
introduction talk where he remarked that this might be the first time health
and digitalization is discussed at a conference. “It shows how important this
link has become,” he said. “We are living through a period of true medical
revolution.” This revolution is being spurred by the availability of health
data, he said, which puts the person at the center of their own health. “It is
this environment we want to further develop in Luxembourg.”
“How to forecast the next pandemic?” was the central
question of the first session, featuring Dr. Sylvie Briand (Director,
Infectious Hazards Management Department - WHO) joining from Geneva. The
answer? AI, big data, and machine learning. But as with any AI system, Briand
said, you need good data to put in. “If you don’t have enough data to put into
your model you won’t have a good outcome.” In addition to monitoring risk, she
said data will be able to help with something that is almost as dangerous as a
pandemic itself—an infodemic. This describes an overabundance of
information—not all of which is accurate—which has proliferated throughout the
course of the COVID-19 pandemic. An AI tool which helps to combat this, called
“social listening,” allows WHO officials to understand what fears,
uncertainties, and concerns are being expressed on social media. “Nothing
spreads like fear,” she said, adding, “Listening is absolutely key.”
Then Ralf Hustadt (Member of Luxembourg Gaia-X
coordination team) came on stage to share the ideas he and his team have come
up with for building resilient and sustainable digital infrastructures. “Data
is the new oil!” his presentation began. Harnessing the power of data will
require a common infrastructure, standards, and compliance tools. “If we don’t
keep the governance on our data, we risk losing the data control,” he said. His
organization, Gaia-X , aims to develop these common requirements for a European
data infrastructure. “It’s about the growth of a digital ecosystem based on
European values,” he said.
In the next talk, Dr. Jasmin Schulz (photo)
(Strategic Programme Officer, Luxembourg Institute of Health) provided a
definition of Clinnova, a trans-regional digital health effort, and explained
how it can unlock the potential of AI and data science in health care. “AI will
transform the health care sector of the future. We have to be on board now and
navigate the paradigm shift,” Schulz said. To support this shift, Clinnova is
defining use cases from the healthcare sector for building out meaningful
data—serving as a nucleation point for a common data infrastructure. “The
creation of this data integration center will bring together major hospitals
and practitioners working around the medical use cases,” she explained.
Continuing the discussion on value-based healthcare
partnerships was Leesa Soulodre (Xennial deep tech pioneer, General
Partner, R3iVentures), who said collaborations in the healthcare field could be
the key to solving some of our society’s deepest issues, such as COVID-19 and
climate change. “AI is enabling a shift to value-based care,” she said,
describing a host of breakthrough solutions—from an app informing people when
their aging parents are in decline to a robot that reminds us about social
distancing measures. Luxembourg provides an important market for healthcare
innovators aiming to improve outcomes, reduce costs, and increase transparency,
Soulodre noted. “We must do this for our children’s future. We believe we can accelerate
impact,” she concluded.
A roundtable was then kicked off on the topic of “Emerging
technologies transforming the digital healthcare space” with experts François
Recorbet (Chief Strategy Officer, Bodyo), Kelly Benning (Vice
President Sales and Marketing, LiveMetric), and Christian Oberlé
(President and Director, Caisse nationale de Santé). Moderator Dr. Jochen
Klucken (FNR PEARL Chair and Head of Digital Medicine, University of
Luxembourg), who described himself as a “doctor thinking digital”, asked the
panel how the healthcare sector can be more successful with integrating digital
technologies. Oberlé was able to provide insights from the point of view of a
health insurance company. “Today, we have to find new ways to think about
financing and that is one of the big challenges when discussing with young
entrepreneurs,” he said. Recorbet, whose company created a device that can
provide remote health check-ups, represents that entrepreneurial spirit. “We
can prevent disease and we can prevent costs. The patients are pretty much the
same—so let’s do it,” he said. Benning, who joined remotely from Colorado,
explained how Luxembourg-based LiveMetric is innovating around the treatment of
hypertension and cardiovascular disease. Their wrist-worn blood pressure device
provides a passive way to monitor blood pressure at home, even at night. The
need for remote monitoring methods such as Bodyo and LiveMetric have increased
due to COVID-19, she said.
“Digitalisation of the Healthtech sector” was the next talk
led by Sara Bouchon (Director Market Intelligence, Luxinnovation GIE)
who discussed market trends specific to Luxembourg.
The shift from disease treatment to prevention is one of the
biggest trends linked to digitalization, she said, from fitness level assessments
to apps that can provide personalized dietary recommendations. In addition,
customer-centric care delivery models, such as Doctena, are at the heart of
creating personalized care journeys within the Luxembourgish health system,
according to Bouchon. The goal of all these initiatives is to create an
environment that “leverages data, collaborates with customers, and rethinks
regulatory compliance.”
Kyriacos Hatzaras (European Partnerships Manager,
BioMind) dove into the topic of new technology adoption in healthcare and
offered ideas on the best ways to get it right. First and foremost, he said,
these ideas need to have high impact on intervention, reduce costs, and improve
technology. As a case study, Kyriacos highlighted the work of BioMind, which
aims to provide more accurate diagnosis of life-threatening diseases. He said
key to the process of innovation adoption at BioMind has been trialability (how
easy it is to try the tech with minimal commitment), advantage (do the benefits
outweigh risks), compatibility (does it fit with our systems), complexity (how
difficult is the technology for us to understand), and observability (what can
it deliver). “It helps when we simplify tasks. and that keeps us moving forward
more smoothly,” he said.
The idea of Care 2.0 was brought forth by Borzo Baradari
(Vice President, Global Clinical Services, All.Health) in his talk on the
global health-tech surge and the golden opportunity the health care field finds
itself in. He said though COVID-19 surfaced significant shortcomings in
healthcare, the silver lining is increased investment in health-tech
innovations. “Similar to what the telecom/music industry underwent, healthcare
is also beginning this similar wave of disruption,” he said. The wave will be
carried by data, Baradari predicted, requiring “sophisticated AI models to
provide action-driven insights to care teams.”
“Doctors as co-innovators” was the central theme of a round
table discussion moderated by Suzanne Vanweddingen (Journalist, Letz be
healthy) and featuring Baradari and Dr. Michael Witsch (Chief digital
medical health officer, CHL). Twenty years ago, Witsch created an electronic
health system, and since then has advocated for strong systems to share
information. In his pediatric practice, he has seen huge benefits with diabetic
patients whose data are taken continuously and sent to the cloud. “Imagine a
parent with a one-year-old with diabetes that can automatically have it checked
five times a night,” he said. Doctors should take the opportunity to really
learn from the data, he said, and make the digitalization process more
fluid. Borzo supported this, providing
an example from All.Health’s work integrating data to a central platform for a
diabetes clinic in Dubai. “We are in
almost daily communication with the clinical team, and we are trying to learn
how we can save more time so they have more time for quality patient
interaction.”
The conference ended with a keynote speech by Thomas
Gregory (Shoulder Elbow Wrist and Hand Surgeon, Professor at Paris Sorbonne
University) who, in 2017, was one of the first surgeons to perform surgery in
augmented reality using a HoloLens. The device, created by Microsoft, is
essentially a headset computer with two cameras. It is equipped with an AI
censor that, combined with reality, allows surgeons to interact with gestures.
Since 2017, a larger group of surgeons have tried the technique, with great
success. “What is incredible is to analyze the fact that all the surgeons were
satisfied or very satisfied, and will be prone to use mixed reality in their
practice,” Gregory said. This technology can also be leveraged for surgical
planning, using 3D holograph modes to see what is beyond the skin and “make the
invisible visible,” he said. “It is very
exciting because it is completely transforming medicine.”
Article by Johanna Sorrentino
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