4 years after its launch, the Telemedicine platform of the IRCCS San Raffaele Hospital reaches quota 100 thousand subscribers.
Operational since 2020, just before the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, the service was created with the aim of facilitating the patient’s diagnostic-clinical path, limiting travel and waiting times to receive a clinical opinion. The IRCCS San Raffaele Hospital in Milan was the first hospital in the San Donato Group to offer this innovative service for all patients.
“Telemedicine is an innovative approach to clinical practice that allows for provide remote serviceson the one hand by enhancing sustainability (economic and environmental savings), on the other by educating people on prevention and awareness of their own state of health”, states the engineer Federico Espostioperational director of the IRCCS San Raffaele Hospital.
The services of the Telemedicine platform
A point of connection between doctor and patient, the digital platform allows for the provision of video visits and consultations.
In particular, the video visit it is a visit that takes place remotely, via PC, tablet or smartphone (app for iOS and Android San Raffaele Hospital byWelmed), with the possibility of interacting with the doctor, sharing clinical documents and exchanging messages with the specialist via a dedicated professional chat.
The consultation consists of a medical opinion in written form, based on the clinical documentation shared by the patient and the description of the clinical question described during the booking phase. The consultation is also used to receive a second opinion on a diagnosis or treatment plan or to receive support in interpreting values of tests performed.
Furthermore, within the platform there are other free featuresincluding the possibility of sending your clinical documentation to the doctor and exchanging messages with the doctor via chat, not only in the case of video visits or requests for written consultations, but also in preparation for an in-person visit or for sharing tests additional items requested by the professional after the visit.
The benefits for patients
The versatility of the platform has made it possible to reach over 100,000 registered patients today: of these, approximately half come from the Lombardy Region and half from outside the region; while around 1,500 are resident abroad. The average age of patients who use the service is 52 years.
“The project conceived in 2019, pre-pandemic therefore, seemed to us to be an obligatory investment, above all to make the health services of San Raffaele Hospital – San Donato Group available even remotely both for Italy and abroad.
Telemedicine, together with the home care initiatives that we have already activated for some years (such as blood tests, ultrasounds and home x-rays), allow the patient to have repository digital always available and above all a single reference, clear and certified, of the relationship with your specialist doctor”, continues Esposti.
Furthermore, the service is included in the patient care path even after discharge and accustoms the patient and/or caregiver to digital dialogue, making him the protagonist and active user. Telemedicine therefore becomes part of the clinical path, where the patient no longer has to travel to receive a medical opinion second opinion or information during its journey follow up.
As part of the telemedicine project, the following estimates were made: savings in economic terms and environmental impact related to the services performed. On the patient side, some benefits have been estimated in terms of avoided costs, for example, on average 490 km not traveled per single patient and €250 saved for each single trip (petrol, motorway, maintenance, etc.); €95 saved per working hours gained by reducing absences and finally the CO2 emissions saved, for a total of 3,454,570.00 kg of total CO2 emissions not emitted, equivalent to the CO2 absorbed by approximately 18,000 trees in a year (Data source: IRCCS San Raffaele Hospital).
“The project fits perfectly into the expansion plans of the San Donato Group abroad: patients coming from European or non-European countries can thus begin their treatment process remotely and, before going to Italy for checks or vice versa, come to Italy for the operations and then continue to be followed in the follow-up by your specialist even remotely abroad”, concludes engineer Esposti.
