

Faces of Digital Health
Tjasa Zajc
Faces of Digital Health is a podcast about digital health, exploring how different healthcare systems adopt technologies in healthcare. Its aim is to satisfy curiosity about different cultures, identify barriers to success in different countries and finding answers and advice for accelerating the success of digital health entrepreneurs.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Nov 30, 2022 • 33min
EIT Health Germany-Switzerland Ep. 9: What expectations should we have in regard to the European Health Data Space?
The European Health Data Space is supposed to be implemented in a bit more than two years, by 2025. Two goals are at the forefront: to create the infrastructure for a European health data pool for researchers and innovators, and secondly, to enable patients to pick up their medications outside their home country and give doctors across Europe access to their patient information, if in need of medical care while abroad in Europe. On 18 November, EIT Health Germany-Switzerland and EIT Health Spain organized a joint symposium titled Right to privacy vs. duty to protect lives: Health Data Management in Focus. Speakers discussed patients’ perspectives on Health Data use and the EHDS, balancing health data privacy and AI development, ongoing approaches for data solutions, and more. I managed to speak with Nick Schneider, Head of division 511 on new technologies and data use at the Germany Federal Ministry of Health to discuss:
Where is EHDS at the moment
Will it be implemented by 2025
What are still the biggest open questions
And how Germany is advancing with its digital transformation.
Resources:EIT Health Statement on the European Health Data Space: https://eithealth.eu/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/EIT-Health-Statement-on-the-EHDS-proposal_final-05052022.pdf Joint Symposium with EIT Health Spain - EIT Health Germany (eit-health.de): https://eit-health.de/en/joint-symposium-2022/eHealth Services across Europe: https://health.ec.europa.eu/ehealth-digital-health-and-care/electronic-cross-border-health-services_en This episode is supported by EIT Health Germany-Switzerland, which is one of eight Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs) currently funded by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT). EiT Health Germany connects 150 renowned partners from industry, research and education from Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Find out more: eit-health.dewww.facesofdigitalhealth.comMonthly newsletter: https://fodh.substack.com/

Nov 24, 2022 • 50min
Has The Risk of Becoming a Nurse Become Too Great in the US?
Nurses play a key role in patient care, but their contribution to patient outcomes is often undervalued and underappreciated. It took a pandemic to create a major shift in their job opportunities and power to negotiate. Many nurses left the profession entirely, others switched to better-paid travel or agency jobs. The pandemic is settling down so the question debated in today’s episode, is what is the position the nurses are in today? You will hear from:
Rebecca Love, Thought Leader on Nurse Innovation & Entrepreneurship, experienced nurse executive and entrepreneur, and Chief Clinical Officer of IntelyCare,
Alice Benjamin, nurse, author, and health advocate is affectionately known as America's favorite nurse.
Rebecca and Alice talked about the position of nurses, healthcare technologies that are not designed to make the work of nurses easier, recent criminal cases against nurses in the US, and what needs to change so that being a nurse will be an attractive job opportunity. Let’s dive in, and if you will enjoy the discussion, do leave a rating or a review wherever you get your podcast and subscribe to receive the next episode straight to your podcast inbox. Also, do check our newsletter! It’s published on a monthly basis. Now to Rebecca and Alice. Monthly newsletter: https://fodh.substack.com/Leave a rating or a review: lovethepodcast.com/facesofdigitalhealthOfficial website: www.facesofdigitalhealth.com

Nov 18, 2022 • 13min
HLTH Recap: From health disparities, sexual health, and patient experience as the key tool for improved patient outcomes
Between 13 and 16 November, HLTH, the largest digital health conference with over 9000 attendees, took place in Las Vegas. Over 400 speakers discussed the current trends and challenges in the industry. This short episode recaps some of the discussed topics - investment trends, holistic healthcare: food as medicine, digital therapeutics, mental health trends, telemedicine decline, patient experience as a determinant of care, health disparities and more.Speakers:
Smriti Kirubanandan, Healthcare Strategist and Board Member of The World Food Bank,
Lyndsey (McKay) Harper, Ob/Gyn, Founder/CEO of Rosy
Aline Noziet, Digital Health Connector from Barcelona, Spain
Hagai Heshes, Head of Product Marketing at TytoCare
Erica Olenski Johansen, Caregiver and Patient Advocate
Julien de Sallabery, CEO of Galen Growth
Read the transcript in the newsletter: https://fodh.substack.com/Leave a rating or a review: lovethepodcast.com/facesofdigitalhealthOfficial website: www.facesofdigitalhealth.com*** Past episodes about DTx in Germany***How Can A Digital Health Solution Become a "DiGA App" in Germany? https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/eit-health-germany-procarement How did Germany accelerate the speed of the digitization of healthcare?https://www.facesofdigitalhealth.com/blog/f095-how-did-germany-managed-to-take-the-lead-in-healthcare-digitization-henrik-matthies-maike-henningsen-maren-lesche?rq=germany

Nov 15, 2022 • 12min
Global State of Digital Health presented at HLTH
Finn Partners and Galen growth Asia partnered for a global overview of the digital health investment landscape. More than 200M data points from more than 12,000 digital health ventures worldwide were taken into account when assessing the state of the industry. In this short discussion, the CEO of Galen Growth Asia Julien de Salaberry, explained the key findings from the report, the state of digital health in China and expectations from next year.Investment trends globally:- In the first 9 months of 2022, venture funding across the globe declined by 35% YOY ($25 B compared to $39.23B over the same quarters in 2021)- 60% of the total volume comes from North America, the Middle East came in second in Q2, and Europe did NOT see a quarter-on-quarter decrease in venture funding seen in North America.- Top investment categories: oncology (though the funding shrinked by 30%) and mental healthPredictions for 2023: - Investors are moving from Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) to Fear of Looking Foolish (FOLF)- Ventures are finding that funding terms & conditions are far less favorable and valuationsare continuing to return to reality.*****MONTHLY Newsletter which recaps episodes in the past month: https://fodh.substack.com/www.facesofdigitalhealth.com

Nov 10, 2022 • 36min
Connecting Startups With Pharma and Healthcare Providers
For new ideas and solutions to reach the market, startup founders need to find the right partners that are willing to listen to them and take their ideas one step further. Established in 2015, the Health Innovation Hub & Holding provides years of expert knowledge in innovation pathways, paving the way for better healthcare and a sustainable healthcare industry. The European organization better known under the name of Innovation in health has many programs in its portfolio.In this episode Hannes Toivanen, Lead, Global Digital Ecosystem Engagement at Takeda and Jesus Jeronimo Director of New Digital Services & Products at Sanitas + BUPA ELA.Jesus and Hannes talked about how pharma, insurance companies and healthcare providers work with startups, what makes a successful partnership, and why their organizations took part in the Innovation in health programs Start-ups Meet Pharma (Takeda) and start-ups Meet Healthcare Providers (Sanitas + BUPA ELA).More about Innovation in health: https://innovationinhealth.eu/MONTHLY Newsletter which recaps episodes in the past month: https://fodh.substack.com/www.facesofdigitalhealth.com**** This episode is supported by EIT Health Germany-Switzerland, which is one of eight Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs) currently funded by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT). EiT Health Germany connects 150 renowned partners from industry, research and education from Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The unique network helps initiate outstanding innovations in the health sector. If you're a startup working in the field of digital health or biotech and don't know EiT Health Germany yet, I would encourage you to visit eit-health.de, where you will find more about innovation, acceleration, and education programs.

Nov 2, 2022 • 40min
How Are Shared Care Records Becoming a Reality in London? (Gary McAllister)
In the previous episode, you had a chance to listen to Dr Phil Koczan, GP in North East London and the Chief Clinical Safety Officer for London, Dr Katherine Buxton, Consultant in Palliative Care Medicine for Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and Clinical Director, Palliative and End of Life Care Strategic Clinical Network for London talk about the recently introduced digitized urgent care planning across London. OneLondon is a project that supports a vision of joined-up health and care. It is a pan-London collaboration between leaders from the 5 Integrated Care Systems in the capital. London’s healthcare system is complex. It covers a population of 10 million people and is connecting 35 NHS Trusts and 1385 GP practices. In this episode, Gary McAllister, Chief Technology Officer of OneLondon explains how is London approaching the digital transformation of healthcare in London, how complex is the IT infrastructure at the moment, and how the core team of OneLondon works with vendors to try to connect different systems as efficiently as possible.
More about OneLondon: https://www.onelondon.online/
More about Urgent Care Planning: https://ucp.onelondon.online/
MONTHLY Newsletter which recaps episodes in the past month: https://fodh.substack.com/
www.facesofdigitalhealth.com
*****The topic of this episode is supported by Better - a provider of an open data digital health platform, electronic prescribing and medication administration solution, and low code tools that help you rapidly build applications that suit your needs. The company focuses on simplifying the work of health and care teams, advocates for data for life, and strives for all health data to be vendor-neutral and easily accessible. More about the company: better.care

Oct 27, 2022 • 35min
How Did London Digitize Urgent Care Plans?
Too often, patients need to repeat their medical history when in contact with different healthcare providers. Consequently, clinicians need more time to make decisions than necessary because they can’t access patient data. London managed to digitize urgent care plans and make them available across 40 NHS Trusts and 1400 GP offices. This episode presents the Urgent Care Plan Programme, aiming at giving clinicians easy access to patients’ desires about their care, as defined in their care plan. Patients can fill out an urgent care plan at various points in their patient journey. The problem so far has been that accessing these plans by different providers was often difficult. Now the situation is improved with an introduction of a regional platform that stores urgent care plans and enables different care teams to access them when needed. Urgent Care Plan Programme is a part of OneLondon Portfolio. OneLondon is a project that supports a vision of joined-up health and care. It is a pan-London collaboration between leaders from the 5 Integrated Care Systems in the capital. London’s healthcare system is complex. It covers a population of 10 million people and is connecting 35 NHS Trusts and 1385 GP practices. As part of the OneLondon portfolio, the Urgent Care Plan Programme led the design and implementation of a new digital care planning solution in 2021. This solution enables Londoners to have their care, and support wishes digitally shared with healthcare professionals across the capital. By connecting all care levels, clinicians can now easily access urgent care plans to guide them in the care they provide to patients based on patient's individual preferences. This episode presents what urgent care plans are, why they matter, and more as explained by Dr Phil Koczan, GP in North East London, and the Chief Clinical Safety Officer for London, Dr Katherine Buxton, Consultant in Palliative Care Medicine for Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and Clinical Director, Palliative and End of Life Care Strategic Clinical Network for London. They explained what the joint urgent care plan means for patients and healthcare providers in London. More about OneLondon: https://www.onelondon.online/More about Urgent Care Planning: https://ucp.onelondon.online/MONTHLY Newsletter which recaps episodes in the past month: https://fodh.substack.com/www.facesofdigitalhealth.comThe topic of this episode is supported by Better - a provider of an open data digital health platform, electronic prescribing and medication administration solution, and low code tools that help you rapidly build applications that suit your needs. The company focuses on simplifying the work of health and care teams, advocates for data for life, and strives for all health data to be vendor-neutral and easily accessible. More about the company: better.care

Oct 20, 2022 • 35min
Cancer Series Ep. 5: Digital Strategy of The Largest Single-Site Cancer Center in Europe
Medical progress is driven by research, and good research requires good data. The largest single-site cancer center in Europe and the biggest chemotherapy center in the UK - The Christie NHS Foundation Trust runs 650 clinical trials at any given time. They recently went live with a new electronic Patient Reported Outcome Measures (ePROMs) service helping to connect patients with the hospital trust through their cancer journey. As explained by Phil Bottomley, EHR Strategic Lead at The Christie NHS Foundation Trust, the digitization of ePROMs is only the beginning of the digitalization process of over 600 clinical forms used in the hospital. The hospital’s digital transformation strategy is based on a data-first approach, ensuring that the used data models enable the creation of a longitudinal record. They chose openEHR specification - a product and vendor-independent specification, striving to make data independent of any software provider.Subscribe to the newsletter to receive a recap of the whole cancer series: https://fodh.substack.com/www.facesofdigitalhealth.comLeave a rating or review: lovethepodcast.com/facesofdigitalhealthThe topic of this episode is supported by Better - a provider of an open data digital health platform, electronic prescribing and medication administration solution, and low code tools that help you rapidly build applications that suit your needs.

Oct 13, 2022 • 33min
Cancer Series Ep. 4: Cancer is Gone, What Happens Next?
We are in the middle of a series of discussions related to cancer care, treatment improvements, data management in oncology, and the promise of AI to find the right treatment for the right patient in the fastest possible manner. As mentioned by Xose M. Fernandez, a genomicist and former chief data officer at Institute Curie, a faster diagnosis could lead to less aggressive treatment and better patient outcomes. We covered many perspectives so far: accessibility and cost of cancer treatments in the US and Canada in the first episode, genetics, data management, and the science of cancer; we talked about AI treatments and challenges in designing clinical trials in personalized medicine.This episode focuses on the consequences cancer diagnosis has after patients are cured. Many cancer survivors in long-term remission face restricted access to financial services because of their medical history. Some EU countries have already implemented the right to be forgotten - a right for patients not to disclose their medical history. Changes across Europe are happening slowly and given the rising incidence of cancer on the one hand, and scientific advances on the other, we need improvement in the quality of life of patients after they are cured.In this episode, you will hear from dr. Françoise Meunier, member of the Belgian Royal Academy of Medicine, former Director General of European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer, and a Scientific Member of the European Cancer Patient Coalition.Subscribe to the newsletter to receive a recap of the whole cancer series: https://fodh.substack.com/www.facesofdigitalhealth.com Leave a rating or review: lovethepodcast.com/facesofdigitalhealth

Oct 6, 2022 • 49min
Cancer Series Ep. 3: AI, Precision Oncology and Understanding Cancer (Pangea Biomed)
This is the 3rd episode in the Cancer Series. In this episode, you’ll hear a bit about precision medicine in oncology, drug repurposing and the increasing challenges precision medicine poses for clinical trials. I spoke with Tuvik Beker, CEO of Pangea Biomed, an Israeli-based company tackling oncology drug development and treatment recommendation by not only looking at the single mutations in tumor cells, which the Pharmaceutical industry has already found targeted therapies for. Cancer treatments are evolving very rapidly, but precision and targeted therapies are still only effective in roughly 10% of cancer patients. Pangea Biomed tries to understand broader gene activation patterns inside tumor cells and recommends a therapy that would help exploit cancer cells’ defense mechanisms. As explained in simplified terms by Tuvik Beker.Cancer Series Ep. 1: Access to Care, Financial Toxicity and Healthcare IT in OncologySpeaker: David J. Stewart, MD, FRCPC, Professor of Medicine in the Division of Medical Oncology at the University of Ottawa and The Ottawa Hospital. Cancer Series Ep.2: Cancer, Genomics and Data ScienceSpeaker: Xose M. Fernandez, genomicist and up until recently the Chief Data Officer at Institut Curie in France, one of the leading medical, biological, and biophysical research centers in the world. SUBSCRIBE TO THE MONTHLY NEWSLETTER: https://fodh.substack.com/www.facesofdigitalhealth.comLeave a rating or a review: lovethepodcast.com/facesofdigitalhealth Thank you! :)


