“The future of medicine will come from the exploitation of data. There are people who oppose the public sharing the data, but it is not theirs, they belong to the patient.” Ace has sentenced Juan Abarcapresident of the Fundación Institute for the Development and Integration of Health (IDIS), in the presentation of the Report Continuity of care and single patientcarried out by Accenture for the IDIS Foundation.
The report collects the perception and opinion of patients -survey carried out by Sigma Dos to 3,000 people- and professionals- and seven interviews with professionals health professionals, of which five have been to medical professionals from different specialties and two to oncologists, in relation to aspects related to the aforementioned continuity of care.
In Abarca’s opinion, continuity of care “is not an option, it is a obligation which has a direct impact on the right of patients to move freely through the system, seeking the best results for their medical problem”.
However, although “continuity of care exists, it still has many gaps“, according to Martha Villanueva, CEO of IDIS. Thus, interviews with medical professionals define as necessary to “eliminate territorial barriersconsider the patient as one and normalize the private sector as part of the health system, carrying out an adequate management of the available resources”.
And it is that, according to Villanueva, the objective is “to work so that the system adapts to the patient, not that the patient adapts to the system”.
Results
by the citizens70.2% consider it necessary to promote public and private collaboration, and more than 85% are in favor of receiving treatment or taking tests in private or public health without distinction, and that all data could be known and evaluated by the health professional who attends you at all times.
Likewise, 88% of the citizens surveyed believe it is reasonable that their medical reports are shared so that professionals from another center have them, as long as (84.4%) they are shared with their authorization.
Given these results, Villanueva has exposed the proposals that the IDIS Foundation launches to improve care continuity: “A integrated strategy prevention and health promotion; mixed commits where public and private health can come together by health areas for therapeutic and research purposes, and integrated structures with multidisciplinary support groups, that follow the path of the patient, even afterward, in long-term cancer survivors, for example”.
Example
And it is that for sample, a button: Elena TenDirector of Marketing and Communication at Fresenius, and a breast cancer patient for 12 years, has recounted her experience: when, after receiving a diagnosis and initial treatment in the private sector, you decided to continue with the public sector as certain parts of the treatment and reconstructive surgery were not included in your policy. “I took my reports to the oncologist, I wanted to help him. He told me that he did not agree with what they had done to me. I was not going to ask for a second opinion, I had participated in the decision-making and I knew what they had to do to me, and 4/5 of what my treatment cost I had already paid for, I wanted 1/5 from the public system, and I only needed that”.
Finally, the public professional “accepted and regaadientesbut it already made me doubt”. Diez wonders why, if the professionals “already they all know each othershare information in congresses and seminars, why not for the patient?
This same question was raised during the round table held on the day the report was presented: “One of the great problems of health systems, according to the WHO, is the compartmentalization of information and assistance”, said Francisco Javier Martinez PeromingoGeneral Director of Sociosanitary Coordination of the Madrid Health Service (Sermas).
As he explained, Madrid is already working “on the integration of the systems; the next step is the integration of the information, so that the patient perceives that, in an agile way, the professionals who treat him can access his information.”
An agility better known in the private sector, as recounted by Javier Románmedical director of the IOB Hospital Ruber Internacional Oncology Institute, which has “a call center 24/7 for the patient, which also helps to control emergencies”. In addition, it offers psychological support -in line with the IDIS multidisciplinary proposal- and coordination with the patient’s primary care physician, despite the fact that “the operability is deficient, but we replace it with a lot of will”. And it is that, in his opinion, “the key is the availability from service”.
agree with this point Carina Escobarpresident of the Platform of Patient Organizations, who has revealed that “45% of patients are taking more than 2 years to have a diagnosis”, and how from the POP they have detected that “coordination between levels of care is essential and does not get better.For the patient, the perception is of poor quality and safety“.
The continuity of care to arrive
In spite of everything, the three participants in the round table are convinced that the correct continuity of care will arrive: “The willingness to answer the citizen is firm, it cannot be understood that there are problems of access to information in a digital world”, said Martnez Peromingo, agreeing with his opinion Romn, for whom “we all want to give the best response to the citizen without any other point of view view that optimal assistance. It is possible and is a right“.
Escobar, for his part, has concluded by showing that “the demand itself requires that we do things differently and stop doing things that are not efficient. We need healthcare that thinks in the short term, but also in the medium and long term”.
According to the criteria of
Know more