Objectives of the phase

The present phase The Market Validation phase aims to demonstrate that when telemedicine services are introduced in existing healthcare context with a strategic vision and they are seen by Regional Health Authorities not as a plaster to put on top of an ailing system but as an enabler for an in-depth organisational and process reengineering major benefits can be released for all the stakeholders (the Regional Health Authorities themselves, Local Health Authority and Trust Managers, health professionals and citizens).

The benefit released will be also compared with the cost required to deploy and running the telemedicine infrastructure and services to check the economic viability of the service in a public health system. Results from the trials will be also extrapolated to the liberal medicine models to evaluate if and how the HEALTH OPTIMUM services can be deployed in countries which have adopted that model of medicine.

To achieve the objectives described above the HEALTH OPTIMUM Consortium, out of all the services described above, has selected for the Market Validation two services which, based on the partners? deep knowledge of healthcare workflows, are particularly relevant in terms of both reduction of healthcare delivery costs and increase in efficiency, and therefore in productivity, of an healthcare organisation: Tele-neurosurgery counselling and Tele-laboratory.
These two services will be market-validated in all the three participating Regions: Aragón (Spain), North Karelia (Finland), Veneto (Italy) and Spain. The three pilot experiences are expected to clearly demonstrate the benefits brought about by the introduction of these telemedicine solutions and to provide hard evidence for the preparation of a sound and convincing Business Plan.