New Care Delivery

The COVID-19 pandemic has been an accelerator for a profound paradigmatic shift that started several years ago, from a hospital-centred and centralised acute care system towards a patient-centred and distributed network of multiple actors playing new roles. Autonomy of patients is leveraged, telemedicine and telemonitoring is increasingly used by care professionals, assisting technologies and tech-driven improvements in infrastructure and logistics provide the capacity to deliver care both remotely and offsite. At the same time, radically new models of care are needed because of an ageing population, rising cost of healthcare and the financial challenges healthcare is facing globally. Healthcare systems and providers need not only technological, but also cultural and management changes. 

In this issue, we talk about New Care Delivery in healthcare and the novel ways hospitals are exploring to optimise care delivery without compromising its quality or increasing the cost. 

Astrid van der Velde and Ed de Kluiver focus on current organisational and technological barriers that prevent large-scale implementation of hospital admissions at home and share the outcomes of running a virtual heart centre. Prof. Laura Oleaga argues that all specialties, including radiology, need to implement new care-delivery models, which need to incorporate elements such as screening, preventive check-ups and follow-up of patients with chronic diseases. 

Jorge Fernández García, who has been leading a new EIT Health initiative, the High Value Care Forum, talks about how high value care is achievable with small steps and how the Forum can help. Chris McCahan explores what novel ways of care delivery, such as digital solutions or home-based care, shape the ‘new normal’ in healthcare. 

Rafael Vidal-Perez looks into how artificial intelligence is transforming the field of cardiology, specifically its potential in diagnostics and prediction of cardiac events such as atrial fibrillation. A team of experts led by Prof. Eugene Fidelis Soh presents the Central Health Model of Care designed to look beyond the hospital walls in the pursuit to achieve better population health in Singapore. Prof. Penny Gowland, Marco Belardinelli, Martyn Beckett and Aaron Montgomery talk about Open MRI and how it can enhance the value and output of MRI.

In our Winning Practices section, a team of radiologists from Moscow led by Prof. Sergey Morozov outlines the benefits of a systematic approach (CT as the modality of choice, contactless workflow, staff restructuring, etc.) applied to radiology departments in Moscow during the COVID-19 pandemic. Gilbert Bejjani highlights the added value of shifting traditional inpatient surgeries to outpatient ambulatory care centres in Belgium. 

Dorota Napierska and Arianna Gamba discuss ‘green hospitals’ in our Management Matters section and describe the sustainability challenges in healthcare and effective strategies to respond to the impacts of climate change and pollution. 

We hope you will enjoy this issue and will gain inspiration from it. As always, your feedback is welcome. 

Happy Reading!