Next Health – vision of future healthcare

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The Wygrajmy Zdrowie Foundation and Microsoft have signed a letter of intent to establish a Coalition for Telemedicine. The initiative will develop best practices and safety standards for remote healthcare services using new technologies. The Next Health project will primarily cover technologies supporting patients and doctors.

Digital transformation is the future of healthcare?

Next Health is the further stage in the use of technology in healthcare. The task of the coalition will be to develop a common strategy for all healthcare providers present on the Polish healthcare market. The vision of entering healthcare to the next level of digital transformation assumes the use of artificial intelligence, machine learning, analysis of large data sets and the Internet of Things. These, in addition to remote consultations and telecare in a secure technical, organisational and legal environment, are to create the medicine of the future, as stated in the communication. The initiative has already found support among the representatives of clinics implementing the POZ+ project and the Association of Public Oncology Centres.

We can see a wave of digital changes that are currently taking place in the area of healthcare. We want it to be a transformation which will bring benefits not only to those who have been elected, but to all participants in the healthcare system in Poland. This is why we want to see doctors, research centres, hospitals, universities and technology providers standing alongside the NGO that cares about patients’ rights, the Wygrajmy Zdrowie Foundation. We want to create a forum for a broad discussion about telemedicine in Poland and the use of technology to save lives and improve the health of citizens. We are particularly open to discussion with the government and to moving the discussion to a level of regulation which will not only unlock the potential of technology in healthcare, but above all ensure the safety of doctors and patients – indicated Szymon Chrostowski, the initiator of the initiative and the President of the Wygrajmy Zdrowie Foundation, quoted in the communication.

Healthcare in the cloud Microsoft capabilities

An important role in the Coalition for Telemedicine will be played by Microsoft, which has a number of technological solutions for healthcare institutions, training for doctors and healthcare workers, and a system of grants for research centres and scientists implemented under the “AI for Health” initiative. To begin with, Microsoft has offered healthcare facilities free access to the “Cloud for Health” (Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare) for six months. During this time, institutions can test remote work within the framework of Microsoft Teams and become familiar with applications of Microsoft partners in Poland.

The pandemic period has proved that telemedicine can be a solution to the ills of the health service and already today it can really relieve the burden on doctors and protect patients who are expecting appropriate diagnosis and care. We want both doctors and patients to trust technology. This will only be possible if they have a feeling of complete security when working with digital applications and a belief in the protection of privacy, both during the online consultation and when making medical records available – said Tomasz Jaworski, Health Sector Director at the Polish branch of Microsoft, quoted in the company’s official announcement.

Source: Microsoft