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European Innovation Council

RITMOCORE ("Arrhythmias monitoring and comprehensive care”)

Innovation procurement strategy - Finalist: RITMOCORE

 

RITMOCORE

RITMOCORE transforms the care pathway of patients with bradycardias, implanted with a pacemaker, most aged over 70. The steady growth of the demand, mostly due to the ageing population, and budgets’ resistance to follow such demand has two main consequences, on one hand there is a requirement to purchase more devices, and on the other hand, the increase in the workload of clinicians becomes unsustainable.

RITMOCORE’s model addresses both problems: how to purchase more devices, and how to make the best use of clinicians’ time, while increasing quality of care and contributing to preserve long term sustainability of the healthcare system. All this is made possible by a new procurement procedure that also enables a digital transformation.

Current procurement approach generally reduces the price per device by aggregating purchases, but this results in lower range pacemakers, and in cutting back on services. Meanwhile, the newer, higher range pacemaker models offer possibilities such as remote monitoring. This means clinicians, already overworked, do not have access to technologies that could help them, and that patients receive lower quality follow-up in a care pathway that is already fragmented.

RITMOCORE shifts from purchasing devices to purchasing services, where payments are outcome based (thus distributing the risk between the parties), and where services are supported by advanced ICT systems. The model increases efficiency in healthcare systems by fostering alignment between all participants in the care pathway - healthcare services, suppliers, and patients.

RITMOCORE is deployed in the Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau and Hospital Universitari Bellvitge. Quality objectives are being met and alert algorithms have been fine-tuned allowing proactive intervention in several dangerous situations for the patient.