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Our fifth and last article of the series showcases Medidux, a digital platform to help chronic patients–especially ones suffering from cancer–to monitor their health. It enables real-time tracking of their health data, detects complications, gives personalised interventions and results in better patient outcomes and reduced healthcare costs. The article also highlights the startup’s collaboration with Salesforce to enhance its commercial success and scalability to other markets.
The article series “Better health monitoring for patient empowerment” puts the spotlight on the Digital Health Academy 2024 cohort, highlighting their innovative solutions and their ongoing collaborations with digitalswitzerland members. Each article features one of the scaleups chosen to participate in the second edition of the academy.
Healthcare systems are grappling with rising costs, inefficiencies, unequal access to care, and an aging population with an increasing prevalence of chronic diseases. Digital solutions can enhance the accessibility, affordability, and quality of care for patients. However, the lack of comprehensive reimbursement frameworks for such innovations is a significant barrier to the widespread adoption of digital health solutions in Switzerland.
Many promising digital health tools, despite their proven efficacy, face slow uptake due to financial and regulatory hurdles. This challenge discourages healthcare providers and patients from fully integrating these solutions into everyday care.
mobile Health specialises in digital solutions that integrate seamlessly into existing healthcare systems, empowering patients to take control of their health while providing healthcare professionals with actionable insights for better decision-making. They are actively engaging with policymakers, insurers, and other stakeholders to advocate for updated reimbursement models.
One of the company’s flagship solutions is Medidux, a remote monitoring platform designed to support chronic disease management with a current focus on cancer patients. This platform enables real-time tracking of patient health data, early detection of complications, and personalised interventions, resulting in better patient outcomes and reduced healthcare costs.
The impact of mobile Health’s solutions on patients has been profound. Many patients highlight the effectiveness of the remote monitoring platform.
“I feel more in control of my health than ever before. The alerts and personalised insights keep me on track, and I no longer feel alone in managing my condition.”
– Maria, a patient with breast cancer
Behind mobile Health is a dynamic team of healthcare professionals, technologists, and innovators committed to redefining patient care. The team brings together diverse expertise in clinical care, software development, data science, and business strategy, ensuring that solutions are clinically effective and user centric.
The partnership with digitalswitzerland’s Digital Health programme has been valuable in amplifying the reach and impact of mobile Health’s solutions. It paves the way for strategic partnerships with stakeholders such as health insurance providers and pharmaceutical companies.
Insurers have shown interest in mobile Health’s tools to enhance patient outcomes, reduce costs, and improve efficiency within the healthcare system. Collaborations in other countries such as Germany have already demonstrated the potential of integrating mobile Health’s platforms into reimbursement structures, making these tools more accessible to patients.
Pharmaceutical companies also play a critical role in this ecosystem. mobile Health is exploring synergies with pharma partners to incorporate digital tools that complement therapeutic interventions, such as patient engagement platforms for medication adherence and remote monitoring systems for clinical trials.
These partnerships will contribute to a more integrated and efficient healthcare ecosystem that benefits patients, providers, and payers.
mobile Health envisions a future where healthcare is proactive, personalised, and equitable. Through continuous innovation and collaboration, the company aims to expand its portfolio of solutions to address emerging healthcare needs and ensure that every patient, regardless of their location or socioeconomic status, has access to high-quality care.
The goal of the collaboration with Salesforce was to explore how mobile Health could enhance the commercial success of Medidux by refining their go-to-market strategy. This included discussing structured partner onboarding and customer relationship processes, identifying key personas involved in market engagement, and conceptualising partner and client journeys mapped to supporting technologies. The intent was to create a framework that could guide Medidux toward scalable and efficient market entry, particularly in the US and German healthcare sectors.
Through discussions with Salesforce, mobile Health was able to fine-tune initial ideas and explore potential strategies to strengthen their go-to-market approach. These meetings provided a valuable opportunity to reflect on current processes and align them with industry best practices. While much of the collaboration remained theoretical due to pressing regulatory and resource challenges, the insights gained have offered a useful perspective for future planning and decision-making.
The collaboration roadmap included key milestones such as defining personas, scoping the go-to-market efforts, and drafting journeys for partners and clients. While these discussions provided a solid conceptual foundation, the unforeseen regulatory challenges Medidux has faced—such as the transition to European MDR and compliance as a Class IIa medical device—have limited mobile Health’s capacity to execute these ideas. As a result, the achievements of this collaboration have primarily been in clarifying strategic concepts and identifying potential tools for implementation when operational conditions allow.
The groundwork laid through the discussions will serve as a valuable resource as Medidux addresses its immediate challenges and moves toward a more structured market entry.
mobile Health: https://www.mobilehealth.ch/
Salesforce: https://www.salesforce.com/eu/products/health-cloud/overview/
In collaboration with Swiss Healthcare Startups, digitalswitzerland launched the second edition of the Digital Health Academy, a 6-month cohort based programme for AI-driven digital health scaleups that enable patients to better understand and monitor their health. AllesHealth, CNS Therapy, Exploris Health, mobile health and Pathmate were part of the 2024 cohort and, through this academy, were positioned as thought leaders in the digital health space. As part of the programme, they joined a collaborative workshop with the programme’s partners, were mentored by experts, benefited from in-depth workshops and took part in a panel discussion on health monitoring at our partner Swiss Healthcare Startups’s ecosystem event, Digital Health Day in Zurich.
Want to know more? Check out last year’s publication “The Swiss healthcare system: entering a new digital era”, on the state of innovation in digital health in Switzerland.
The article series “Better health monitoring for patient empowerment” puts the spotlight on the Digital Health Academy 2024 cohort, highlighting their innovative solutions and their ongoing collaborations with digitalswitzerland members. Each article features one of the scaleups chosen to participate in the second edition of the academy.
Chronic pain impacts millions of people worldwide, with existing treatments often providing limited relief. This unmet need significantly affects patients’ quality of life, contributes to mental health challenges, and places substantial financial and staffing pressures on healthcare systems. The chronic pain market is vast, with annual expenditures exceeding CHF 400 billion each in Europe and the US. The market continues to expand, driven by the growing prevalence of long COVID and increasing mental health problems.
CNS Therapy AG (“CNS”) is dedicated to helping people live pain-free lives through an innovative neuromodulation technology called Systolic Extinction Training (SET). Unlike pharmaceuticals or invasive surgical treatments, SET offers a novel, non-pharmacological approach aimed at eliminating pain while promoting holistic well-being. This method addresses one of the key challenges in pain management–the need for behavioral change in patients. Unlike traditional Digital Therapeutics (DTx), which often fail to achieve lasting behavioral changes, CNS leverages the combination of stimulation hardware and behavioral therapists to drive the necessary transformation.
At its core, CNS’s approach involves a medical device that noninvasively stimulates the patient’s right hand in sync with the cardiac cycle. This stimulation targets and retains the autonomic nervous system, which is often impaired in chronic patients. The device’s effects are further enhanced through a psychosocial-specific therapy program designed to shift pain-related behaviors, cognitions, and fears toward healthier patterns. The therapy is delivered under the guidance of a trained behavioral therapist and supported by a patient eLearning platform. The standard treatment protocol requires just 20 hours over 5 weeks to achieve significant pain relief.
CNS’s unique approach is backed by patented technology and robust clinical validation. Results from a randomised controlled trial (RCT)1 show high percentage of patients remaining pain-free after 12 months2, underscoring the long-term impact and efficacy of the solution.
This solution has already shown significant potential to improve patients’ overall quality of life. By addressing both the physical and psychological aspects of chronic pain, SET helps patients regain control over their daily activities and emotional well-being. This holistic approach fosters a sense of empowerment and resilience, enabling individuals to shift their focus from managing pain to enjoying a fuller, more active life. These outcomes reinforce our commitment to placing patients at the center of healthcare and tailoring treatments to their unique needs.
“I sense much more power than before. I feel so awake. My muscles are more flexible thus I can take the stairs much easier than before and faster.”
“I run three times a week for 6 miles and do not have any pain anymore.”
CNS’s multidisciplinary team combines expertise in medical device innovation, neuroscience, and clinical psychology. With backgrounds in research and development, their team members are passionate about creating effective, science-backed solutions that meet real-world needs. This diverse skill set enables them to maintain a comprehensive vision of projects, ensuring seamless integration of technology and therapy.
To realise their vision, CNS is actively building partnerships with university hospitals, pain clinics, and health insurance providers across Switzerland. These collaborations are crucial for validating CNS’s approach, reaching
more patients, and demonstrating cost-effectiveness to healthcare stakeholders. By working together, CNS aims to not only improve patient outcomes but also reduce the economic burden of chronic pain treatments on the healthcare system. They strive to have patients go back to work and take care of their families.
CNS believes the future of healthcare lies in prioritising patients and results over procedures. More specifically, both the mind and the body need to be changed to influence chronic disease. Their long-term goal is to redefine the standard of care for chronic pain management, making personalised, holistic treatment accessible to all. By shifting the focus from treating symptoms to inducing long-term behavioural change, CNS both empowers patients to take an active role in their health and teach them how.
As part of the journey with the Digital Health Academy, CNS had the privilege of working with Ergon Informatik as their mentor.
This collaboration aimed to enhance the usability and digital components of the solution, focusing specifically on improving the mobile application that controls the electrical stimulation aspect of their device.
Ergon Informatik provided invaluable insights into optimising the app’s functionality and usability, guiding CNS on best practices for digital development. While the current stage of development limited the scope of technical advancements, their mentorship helped CNS establish a clear roadmap for future progress.
In the future, when CNS will transition into more advanced development stages, the potential for deeper collaboration with Ergon may expand. They look forward to leveraging Ergon’s expertise further to refine their digital platform and ensure it meets the highest standards of usability and efficiency for their patients.
CNS Therapy: https://www.cnstherapy.com/
Ergon Informatik: https://www.ergon.ch/
In collaboration with Swiss Healthcare Startups, digitalswitzerland launched the second edition of the Digital Health Academy, a 6-month cohort based programme for AI-driven digital health scaleups that enable patients to better understand and monitor their health. AllesHealth, CNS Therapy, Exploris Health, mobile health and Pathmate were part of the 2024 cohort and, through this academy, were positioned as thought leaders in the digital health space. As part of the programme, they joined a collaborative workshop with the programme’s partners, were mentored by experts, benefited from in-depth workshops and took part in a panel discussion on health monitoring at our partner Swiss Healthcare Startups’s ecosystem event, Digital Health Day in Zurich.
Want to know more? Check out last year’s publication “The Swiss healthcare system: entering a new digital era”, on the state of innovation in digital health in Switzerland.
1 RCT: random controlled trial, a scientific experiment used to control factors that are not under direct experimental control.
2 82% of females with fibromyalgia patients remained pain-free at the 12-month follow-up.
The article series “Better health monitoring for patient empowerment” puts the spotlight on the Digital Health Academy 2024 cohort, highlighting their innovative solutions and their ongoing collaborations with digitalswitzerland members. Each article features one of the scaleups chosen to participate in the second edition of the academy.
In healthcare, self-management and patient empowerment need to gain importance. With the rising costs of lifestyle-related diseases, there are significant opportunities in prevention, improving adjustable behaviours and therapy adherence. However, currently, there is still a huge gap between what is possible through effective preventive and therapeutic measures and what is actually done, especially in vulnerable patient populations. This is also due to the significant know-how and resources needed in developing and maintaining effective patient-centred health support programs.
Pathmate Technologies has created a Digital Coaching Platform that enables the efficient development and evaluation of digital coaching solutions. Their aim is to provide automated and personalised one-to-one health coaching by informing, motivating, and guiding health or therapy-specific actions in everyday life. The technology combines medical knowledge, behavioural psychology, and usage to create chatbot-driven health support programs that foster engagement, retention, and therapy adherence.
Using the platform, Pathmate built Manoa, a digital coach that empowers individuals to better manage their blood pressure and reduce cardiovascular risks. This solution is certified as a medical device and is reimbursed by 12 health insurances in Switzerland and Germany. It is the first app ever to be certified by the German Hypertension League.
Digital coach Manoa prevents and treats cardiovascular risks. It has a track record of over 30,000 satisfied users. Clinical studies show that blood pressure control significantly improves with the use of Manoa being compared to standard medical care.
“Manoa offers a simple, effective and scientifically proven method to perform important blood pressure self-monitoring at home correctly and regularly and also to share it with the doctor.”
– Prof. Dr. med. Florian P. Limbourg
“The app is a good support in everyday life: it reminds me to measure and record my blood pressure and to change my “unhealthy habits”. Although I work in the health sector, I still get a lot of new information. I think that’s great. And last but not least, with the help of the app, I now feel like I can actively influence my blood pressure levels.”
– Patient review
Pathmate has its roots in the Center for Digital Health Interventions of ETH Zurich and University of St. Gallen. It is a team of health psychologists, computer scientists, and data scientists with the mission to empower companies to create patient-centric digital health programs in record time.
The Digital Coaching Platform is provided to health platforms, insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, MedTech firms, public health organisations, and research institutions to create digital coach-driven health journeys. Using the platform as a base, more than 20 coaches have been developed for use in areas such as chronic diseases, mental health, diet, chronic pain, diabetes, and asthma. Pathmate seeks opportunities and partners to further integrate Manoa into a robust ecosystem of relevant players such as health insurers, doctors, and pharmacies.
Pathmate’s future vision for healthcare is to help people take their health into their own hands, enabling them to live long and healthy lives. Once patients have control over their data along with the motivation, information, and tools to act, healthcare will be more about proactive and preventative action rather than reactive and therapy-based ones.
The goal of the collaboration between Pathmate and IBM Switzerland was to integrate generative AI into Pathmate’s Digital Coaching Platform to enable more personalised patient support using the power of watsonx, IBMs Large Language Model (LLM) platform.
The collaboration provides value to Pathmate’s offering in two dimensions:
During the 6-month collaboration of Pathmate Technologies and the Client Engineering Team of IBM Switzerland, they discussed and evaluated several opportunities regarding the use of LLMs. Based on these discussions, they drafted detailed concepts for the Manoa CoachAI+ use case, which was ultimately implemented and refined over several development sprints.
The module was successfully implemented and evaluated with several test users. In addition, Pathmate gained significant knowledge about integrating and optimising LLMs for patient coaching which will be an asset to further develop their minimum viable product.
This project was made possible with the support of digitalswitzerland and the IBM Client Engineering Team, who provided Pathmate with unique knowledge, guidance, and development support.
Pathmate Technologies: https://www.pathmate.tech/
IBM Client Engineering: https://www.ibm.com/client-engineering
In collaboration with Swiss Healthcare Startups, digitalswitzerland launched the second edition of the Digital Health Academy, a 6-month cohort based programme for AI-driven digital health scaleups that enable patients to better understand and monitor their health. AllesHealth, CNS Therapy, Exploris Health, mobile health and Pathmate were part of the 2024 cohort and, through this academy, were positioned as thought leaders in the digital health space. As part of the programme, they joined a collaborative workshop with the programme’s partners, were mentored by experts, benefited from in-depth workshops and took part in a panel discussion on health monitoring at our partner Swiss Healthcare Startups’s ecosystem event, Digital Health Day in Zurich.
Want to know more? Check out last year’s publication “The Swiss healthcare system: entering a new digital era”, on the state of innovation in digital health in Switzerland.
Curious about to learn more about the first article, read all about Exploris Health and their collaboration with Swiss Post and Post Sanela in “Better health monitoring for patient empowerment | Part 1: AI-based coronary artery disease risk test”.
This article series puts the spotlight on the Digital Health Academy 2024 cohort, highlighting their innovative solutions and their ongoing collaborations with digitalswitzerland members. Each article features one of the scaleups chosen to participate in the second edition of the academy.
Heart attacks and the underlying coronary artery disease (i.e. blockage of arteries with plaque 1, limiting and ultimately stopping the blood flow to the heart) are the number one cause of death–not only in Switzerland, but worldwide. This is a treatable disease, which is why it is important to identify affected people and save others from unnecessary examinations. Today, the most reliable diagnostic solutions are a CT 2 scans, MRI 3 scans, or an invasive catheter examination 4.
But how is it decided if a patient should undergo either of these procedures or if they can be sent back home without further investigation? To make this decision, there are currently no reliable preselection tools in place. This often leads to informed guessing, resulting in either significant amounts of unnecessary imaging and invasive tests–burdening both patients and payers–or missed cases due to incorrect risk assessment.
Exploris Health developed an AI-based test called Cardio Explorer®, which can reliably rule out and diagnose the presence of coronary artery disease at the same time. Both decision processes are enabled with similar accuracy as CT or MRI scans. This test, however, is purely software-based. It is CE-marked and has been clinically validated in over 4’500 patients. Only requiring blood test results, blood pressure, and information about the patient, it is easy to use and positioned as a first line test for healthcare professionals to efficiently identify patients that are at risk and recommend the appropriate next steps as suggested by the latest medical guidelines.
Patients with an acute coronary artery disease are identified more quickly. And for the others, unnecessary further examinations are avoided, saving them from waiting times, radiation, and unpleasant invasive interventions.
“Thanks to artificial intelligence, we finally have a tool that can meet the high demands in primary diagnostics.”
– E. Schönmann, MD, Primary Care Physician, Aarau
“We believe Cardio Explorer, Exploris Health’s innovative cardiac test, will significantly improve care for patients with suspected coronary artery disease.”
– Dr. med. Thomas Helms, Chairman of the Board of the German Foundation for the Chronically Ill.
Serial entrepreneurs, experts from pharma, diagnostics, AI, and Professors from university hospitals in Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands, and the US.
Exploris Health works with a diverse range of collaborators and partners to advance its mission. The company collaborates with university hospitals to access data, identify unmet medical needs, develop innovative solutions, and conduct clinical validation. It has established distribution partnerships with electronic medical record providers, as well as key players in diagnostics and the pharmaceutical industry, to facilitate the adoption of its solutions by general practitioners, resident cardiologists, and emergency departments in hospitals. Additionally, health insurance providers collaborate with Exploris Health to support the reimbursement of its tests. Occupational health physicians and service providers also partner with the company to integrate its tests into employee heart health check-up campaigns.
Leverage AI to decode human biology and identify personalised diagnostic and therapy solutions in order to improve patient outcomes and substantially save costs for healthcare systems by enabling decisions at the right time and place.
The aim from this collaboration with Exploris Health was to identify focus areas and establish contacts across Swiss Post and Sanela, creating a short- and longer term win-win scenario. Three such potential focus areas were identified:
The collaboration ensured to quickly identify the appropriate stakeholders within such a large organisation as Swiss Post and identify areas for joint value.
Occupational Health:
EPR / Digital Health
Ecosystem
“Things take time to materialise, but the seed is planted. We feel very comfortable that we will further collaborate for the benefit of Exploris but also Post and Sanela.”
– Dr. Manuel Roemer, Chief Strategy & Business Development, Exploris Health AG
“As someone with a public health background and a deep passion for cardiovascular health, mentoring Exploris Health has opened my eyes to the innovative possibilities for early detection. By fostering connections and building bridges between tools for the early detection of chronic diseases and the EPR ecosystem, we can lay the groundwork to advance preventive healthcare and improve public health outcomes across Switzerland.”
– Dr. Theresa Reiker, Business Development Specialist, Head of Compliance, Post Sanela Health AG
Exploris Health: https://en.explorishealth.com/
Swiss Post Digital Health: https://digital-solutions.post.ch/en/digital-health
Post Sanela Health: https://www.post-sanela.ch/en/
In collaboration with Swiss Healthcare Startups, digitalswitzerland launched the second edition of the Digital Health Academy, a 6-month cohort based programme for AI-driven digital health scaleups that enable patients to better understand and monitor their health. AllesHealth, CNS Therapy, Exploris Health, mobile health and Pathmate were part of the 2024 cohort and, through this academy, were positioned as thought leaders in the digital health space. As part of the programme, they joined a collaborative workshop with the programme’s partners, were mentored by experts, benefited from in-depth workshops and took part in a panel discussion on health monitoring at our partner Swiss Healthcare Startups’s ecosystem event, Digital Health Day in Zurich.
Want to know more? Check out last year’s publication “The Swiss healthcare system: entering a new digital era”, on the state of innovation in digital health in Switzerland.
Footnotes
1Plaque: Buildup of fats, cholesterol and other substances in and on the artery walls
2Computed tomography (CT): A diagnostic imaging procedure that uses a combination of X-rays and computer technology to produce images of the inside of the body.
3Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI): A medical imaging technique that uses strong magnetic fields and radio waves to produce detailed images of the inside of the body (incl. organs, bones, muscles and blood vessels)
4Invasive catheter examination: An invasive procedure in which a thin tube called a catheter is inserted through an artery and guided to your heart to identify important information about the structure and function of the heart.
The integration of digitalisation and new technologies in healthcare offers both challenges and opportunities. Swiss citizens are ready for a fully digitised healthcare system if it provides added value, whereas healthcare professionals (HCPs) face concerns with the fear of increased workload and non-intuitive systems. This study explores how HCPs can be empowered to adopt digital health tools effectively.
An in depth online research indicated that while many institutions offer CAS or masters on digital health, few initiatives directly support HCPs in adopting these solutions.
Interviews with Swiss HCPs were conducted on 4 key areas: “ Digital health and Tools”, “Support and Involvement”, “Barriers towards digitalisation”, and “Optimising adoption”.
During the interviews, the healthcare professionals clearly showed their willingness to adopt new technologies. The digital literacy of the participating HCPs is of a high level. They have clear ideas on what to implement next and how it can support them in giving more efficient care to their patients. Enhanced communication between systems (data interoperability) and reduction of administrative burden have the most potential for HCPs. By addressing concerns and potential barriers in an early state, like fear of extra workload and non-intuitive nature of many digital systems, the perception of new digital technologies can be positively altered.
A potential solution for the future is to implement a co-design framework in three stages, where healthcare professionals, clinic leaders but also patients collaboratively determine the priorities and identify potential barriers for new digital health technologies. First to identify and address the priorities, potential benefits and barriers along with strategies to tackle these obstacles. The second stage offers continuous evaluation and adaptation. And finally, in the third stage digital solutions will be implemented with the help of the HCP champions.
In conclusion, actively involving HCPs in the digitalisation process and addressing their concerns and needs are crucial for successful integration of digital health technologies. By leveraging their insights and providing adequate support and training, the healthcare sector can navigate the digital transformation more effectively, ultimately enhancing the work of the healthcare professionals and thereby patient care and outcomes.
This study was conducted with healthcare professionals practising in Switzerland (doctors, nurses, therapists etc). They were contacted via oral interviews or a written questionnaire The HCPs were interviewed in April and May 2024.The online questionnaire was open between April 19th until May 31st 2024. The participation in the online questionnaire was voluntary and anonymous. Certain HCPs gave their authorisation to be named within the study .A total of 25 HCPs filled out the questionnaire and 7 HCPs were interviewed. All percentages are rounded to a whole number. All information regarding the demographic composition can be found in the appendix.
In the evolving landscape of healthcare, the integration of digitalisation and new technologies stands both as a challenge and a promising opportunity. Healthcare professionals (HCPs) as well as patients are at the forefront of this transformation. According to digitalswitzerland’s Digital Health Study (Sternberg, 2022), Swiss citizens are ready to for a fully digitalised healthcare system – if it provides an added value. HCPs on the other hand are more concerned with digital transformation; different studies suggest that infrastructure and technical barriers, as well as psychological and personal issues or increased workload are commonly linked to digitalisation. In fact, the journey towards embracing and adopting digitalisation within healthcare systems still remains today a complex process.
Imagine a world where healthcare professionals navigate a digital realm of patient data, treatment protocols, and innovative tools to enhance patient outcomes, while keeping close contact with the patients. This vision is the key driver to digitalswitzerland’s study which explores how doctors, nurses, physicians, and other healthcare professionals can be empowered to adopt digital health effectively and benefit from digital tools to improve their daily work.
This is why we are researching ways to enhance digital adoption in healthcare among medical professionals (HCPs). This will help us to better understand the needs and challenges HCPs face daily and to better support them in the future
This goal can only be achieved through better understanding of the needs and challenges of HCPs. In-depth interviews with HCPs from Switzerland provided insights into their experiences, challenges, and aspirations. These insights will help to develop a strategy to support/empower HCPs to become advocates for digital health. The four main topics covered in the interviews were “Digital Health and tools”, “support and involvement”, “barriers towards digitalisation” and “optimising adoption”.
To assess existing resources designed to assist healthcare professionals and healthcare systems in integrating digital health technologies, an in-depth online analysis was conducted. The findings indicate that numerous institutions (over 30) are active in this field, primarily offering extensive educational programs such as Certified Advanced Studies (CAS) or master’s degrees as well as multi-day courses targeting managers and clinic leaders. However, this analysis reveals the existence of only a limited number of initiatives that directly support HCPs in adopting digital health solutions effectively. For example, Careum offers a course for ward leaders in how to successfully shape digitalisation and SIWF (Schweizerische Institut für ärztliche Weiter- und Fortbildung) offered a symposia with digitalisation as one of the topics and accredited Seminars from two different firms.
Typically, HCPs are only consulted or brought into the fold after a digital health solution has been implemented, at which point they are expected to use it. This often leads to scepticism, apprehension, and concerns about additional workload. If HCPs are empowered to take active roles in developing and implementing digital health tools, they can become peers to their colleagues and thereby smoothen the integration process and enhance the overall effectiveness of digital health initiatives.
The results of this publication will serve as a baseline to better equip stakeholders and HCPs with the tools and resources they need to adopt digitalisation effectively in their daily work, but also ensure their active involvement in the digitalisation journey. It is crucial to recognise that HCPs are the primary users of digital health tools to improve diagnostics and treatment of patients. Therefore, their engagement is crucial for a successful digitalisation implementation.
Digital health encompasses a variety of technologies and innovations aimed at improving healthcare delivery and management and patient outcomes through digital solutions. This includes tools like the electronic patient record, telemedicine, and wearable devices. (World Health Organisation, 2024; FDA, 2020”) During the interviews, HCPs highlighted several recurring themes. The most frequently mentioned aspects include the importance of electronic patient records and data management, the potential for monitoring and managing chronic illnesses, and the limitations of digital health where physical consultation can not be replaced by telemedicine. The need for improved collaboration and hospital information system integration between healthcare providers to ensure seamless information flow is also mentioned. The HCPs from the study have a good understanding of what digital health entails.
Digital literacy refers to the ability to use information and communication technologies to find, evaluate, create and communicate information, requiring both cognitive and technical skills (ALA, 2011). 63% of the interviewed healthcare professionals evaluate themselves as having high to very high health literacy levels (score 4 to 5), with only 4% stating that they have none to low digital capabilities (score 1-2). Keeping in mind that the interviewed HCPs might generally be more interested in digitalisation, they have strong capabilities to understand and adapt to new digital technologies.
Digital health solutions have the potential to significantly enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of HCP. Saving time is one of the key benefits digital tools could bring to HCPs (NHS, 2022), nevertheless, it is important to better understand what HCPs think could most benefit them.
Two of the most named solutions are systems that can properly communicate between each other (data-interoperability), and digital tools that lower the administrative burden.
HCPs are often frustrated about systems that can not communicate with each other. Effective data interoperability means that various healthcare systems can share and use information seamlessly. This will not only streamline workflows but also reduces time spent on manual data entry and retrieval. Dr. med. Conrad Müller also refers to this, bridging the gap between the different systems is key to improve efficiency in healthcare.
A significant portion of HCPs’ is consumed by administrative tasks such as documentation, scheduling, and retrieving information. Digital tools that automate these processes can free up considerable time for HCPs. Nathalie Daina-Laville, Independent nurse specialist in diabetics, also commented on lightening the administrative burden during her interview.
One interviewee stated that up until today HCPs need to support the systems, but now, the time has come for the systems to start supporting the HCPs. This statement underscores the need for user-friendly and efficient digital tools that aid healthcare professionals rather than add to their workload. HCPs are willing to use digital health tools for their daily work as long as it brings clear added value for them and the patients.
Digital health solutions have the potential to transform healthcare delivery, but their design should be guided by the needs and preferences of HCPs. Ensuring data interoperability and reducing the administrative burden are key areas where digital health tools can make a difference. The ultimate goal is to enable HCPs to focus on their primary role: providing patient care.
In recent years, more digital health tools to track patient’s health status have emerged. These can play a critical role in enhancing healthcare delivery and patient outcomes. (Kirk, M. 2019). Among these, sensors for home monitoring are an important tool to increase treatment efficiency, patient satisfaction and reduce the amount of hospitalised patients (Mantena S. 2020). Despite the evident benefits these devices can offer, most of the interviewed HCPs are not using any digital health tools to track patients’ health statuses.
A good example of using devices is reported by Dr. med Conrad Müller. There are sensors with a chip that can monitor vital parameters like temperature, puls, and frequency of breathing which can send live information to the hospital. Thereby allowing the doctor to closely monitor patients who are at home.
Wearables that are mentioned are glucose home monitoring systems and smart watches to monitor heart rates. Some of the interviewed HCPs mention using hospital records that combine prescription assistance with discharge letters and computerised hospital files. These tools primarily support treatment and administrative tasks but do not actively monitor patient health status.
Some HCPs have participated in digital health pilots. One example is COBEDIAS, which focuses on early disease recognition. Another pilot project was around an AI-supported X-ray reading tool by tracking potential diagnoses at the emergency department.
These pilot projects enabled the HCPs working on them to be interested in the new technology since they were intensively involved in testing and could see the direct benefits. This highlights the importance of involving HCPs in the development and testing phases to ensure that the tools are understood and meet the clinical needs.
HCPs who have experienced the benefits of a pilot project or testing the digital health tools first hand can become influential advocates or champions during the implementation phase. This peer-to-peer influence will help foster an environment that is open to digital health innovations.
The adoption of digital health tools or wearables to track patient’s health status holds great promise for improving healthcare. Through a collaborative approach, tools to track a patient’s health status can be effectively integrated into clinical practice, leading to better health outcomes and more efficient care delivery.
As mentioned above, getting HCPs involved in the implementation process enhances the adoption of new digital health tools. In addition, training and education as well as robust infrastructure have shown to be effective (AMA, Digital Health Research 2022). A majority of the interviewed HCPs emphasised the need for training and conferences, preferably in-person, to support the adoption of digital health solutions. Seminars and workshops, especially if integrated into everyday working life and counted as working time, are frequently mentioned. A minority of HCPs mentioned the importance of continuous evaluation and having more training opportunities during work hours.
Intuitive and simple user interfaces that reduce the need for extensive training are also a common suggestion. Involvement in any form is key for adoption and understanding the new technology.
If HCPs do not come into contact with new technologies they can not familiarise themselves with them or adapt to them. For example, as already mentioned previously, pilot projects or workshops on digital solutions help users to get accustomed to them. Peers are frequently named by HCPs as a main source of learning and knowledge sharing. Attending conferences, both in-person and online are also a source of knowledge. Educational videos and reading articles are also popular methods. The interviewed healthcare professionals have a willingness to adopt new technologies within their daily work, but incentivisation and training resources are still limited.
The willingness to be involved in the design and development phase are strongly highlighted. 83% of the interviewed HCPs responded that they would like to be involved at some level of the implementation process of digital health solutions. Within this group of 83%, only 20% are actually involved.
This illustrates that different hospitals and clinics do not leverage their resources efficiently and would be able to bring more innovation forward by co-creating together with their staff.
Graph 1 – Willingness to be involved
Participation in the implementation process of digital health solutions occurs on different levels. They can be divided into: participating in brainstorming sessions to conceptualise, being an active member of the design team, contributing to the testing and validation phase or giving feedback on the suggested digital health tools (Bird, 2021).
The brainstorming sessions would focus on conceptualisation. In these sessions HCPs and other stakeholders would name all ideas that can potentially be beneficial to them. This process is needed to gain insights on the different perspectives the stakeholders have. Among the interviewees, 63% want to be involved in brainstorming sessions, showing their willingness and importance of collaborative creation in the early stages of development.
Being part of the design team allows HCPs to actively shape the digital health solution. About a third (32%) of the interviewed HCPs showed interest in being a member of the design team, indicating that they want to contribute to the creation process.
During the testing and validation phase HCPs can contribute and adapt the final version of the digital health solution. This will improve the user friendliness, intuitivity and meet the required functions set out by the HCPs. 56% of the interviewees were open to be involved in this phase.
Providing feedback during the implementation phase supports the continuous improvement and addressing any issues that might arise post-implementation. 79% of the participants would be willing to give feedback.
Before deciding on implementing a new technology within a hospital, clinic or practice, it is recommended to invite interested HCPs to contribute to the discussion and analysis of said technology.
The motivation behind HCPs to be more involved in the digitisation process is important, however, it is also important to better understand the different barriers that medical professionals are facing.
Infrastructure, the fear of additional workload or personal reasons (resistance to change, perception of less interaction with the patient or the fear of digital tools taking over the work of the HCPs), are commonly named challenges (Borges do Nascimento, I.J., 2023). Only 13% of the interviewed HCPs report not encountering any barriers in implementing digital solutions. Half of the respondents identified infrastructure and fear of extra work as limitations, whereas 29% named personal reasons. The introduction of new digital solutions is often perceived as an additional burden rather than a relief, leading to resistance prior to implementation or understanding of the new system.
Another recurrent issue is the non-intuitive nature of many digital systems. The systems are often complex, requiring significant support and training to be effectively used and perform tasks efficiently. This complexity and the need for extensive training further exacerbate resistance to adopting new technologies.
HCPs and citizens frequently express their concerns on the protection of personal health data. This apprehension is driven by fear of data misuse and rising risks of becoming victims of hacking attacks, as was often mentioned in the media (Bavli, l, 2024).
The protection of personal health data was a commonly voiced concern during the interviews (66%). Many respondents stated that they are worried of data manipulation and misuse by insurance companies. Fear of systems being hacked by third parties is another obstacle. Despite these concerns, ⅓ of the HCPs feel that hospital information systems are becoming increasingly secure and do not identify additional risks in adopting new digital applications. In their perspective, current laws and regulations are sufficient. Health data is already widely available to major technology companies in Switzerland. To address concerns and shift the current narrative on data protection, a stronger emphasis should be made on existing measures taken by both software developers and hospitals. By making them aware and highlighting the robust data protection protocols already in place can help reassure HCPs and improve confidence in digital health solution.
After collecting information on the current state of digital adoption, on HCPs’ involvement, and on identified challenges in the space, it is important to focus on how adoption processes can be optimised in the future (Medoza, L.E. 2023)
Digitalisation in healthcare is currently not advancing at the interviewee’s workplace due to a combination of factors, including a shortage of personnel, limited time, and insufficient financial resources. There is also a notable fear towards change and scepticism about the overall benefits of digitalisation. The lack of collaboration between different healthcare organisations, such as hospitals, clinics and practices, are also significant barriers. There is a general sentiment that current digital tools are not developed with professionals’ needs in mind, and that rigid or conservative structures within companies or organisations make it difficult to incorporate innovative ideas.
To improve the adoption of digitalisation among healthcare professionals, many respondents emphasised the need for simple, user-friendly solutions that enhance administrative efficiency and free up time for direct patient care. There is a strong call for digital tools that are useful and well-adapted to the needs of healthcare professionals, rather than those supporting other stakeholders, like healthcare insurance companies, in the healthcare system. HCPs want training courses integrated into the education program. Additionally, the need for gradual integration, hands-on implementation, and active involvement of healthcare professionals in the design and development of digital solutions is mentioned. To address the scepticism and tiredness towards new systems, it can be helpful to clearly demonstrate their benefits and ensure cooperation among all involved stakeholders.
During the interviews, the healthcare professionals clearly showed their willingness to adopt new technologies. The digital literacy of the participating HCPs is of a high level. They have clear ideas on what to implement next and how it can support them in giving more efficient care to their patients. By addressing concerns and potential barriers in an early state the perception of new digital technologies can be positively altered.
A potential solution for the future is to implement a co-design framework where healthcare professionals, clinic leaders but also patients collaboratively determine the priorities for new digital health technologies. This should tackle potential barriers and issues early in the process, in the end leading to more successful adoption and utilisation of the technology. Based on the findings of this study, and already published research , a framework consisting of three stages is proposed.
The first stage addresses the different stakeholders’ priorities upfront, identifying what benefits the technology needs to deliver, outlining potential barriers, such as fear of extra work and non-intuitivity that are mentioned by the HCPs in this study, along with strategies to tackle these obstacles.
Every stakeholder has different priorities. Hospitals want processes done efficiently, HCPs want to spend as little time as possible on administration and patients want these tools to be easily accessible and used to provide the information they need.
Investing time and resources upfront will save frustrations, revising the tools, and poor implementation after.
The second stage involves continuous evaluation during the development process to ensure that the technology meets its intended goals and is intuitive to use. Continuous evaluation is something HCPs are already doing in their medical processes, and what they are also referring to in this study when asked. This will ensure that the tool will still fulfil its intended tasks for both the side of the HCPs as well as the patients. During this phase the user intuitiveness, which is a key priority to our interviewed HCPs, can be closely monitored. This remains crucial for adoption by the HCPs and will reduce the need of support teams to assist the HCPs to use the new technology after implementation .
And in the third stage, when the development is done, the HCPs become champions of the technology, addressing scepticism among colleagues and demonstrating to them the clear benefits it offers. This creates a crucial role in the phase of implementation with the HCPs who were actively involved in the development phase. Usual practice these days ist that HCP champions are created after a training day with the development team. These (old) champions can still remain sceptical to the new technology, have certain barriers towards it, or do not fully understand all the different possibilities. The HCPs involved in the entire process become real champions that will demonstrate the benefits of the new technology.
This co-design framework will enhance adoption amongst all stakeholders by actively involving them, and assuring it fulfils the needs of the users. It will assure the technology is intuitive to use, improving overall user experience. Lastly, the involvement of the new champions will make the solution sustainable and robust for the future.
In conclusion, actively involving HCPs in the digitalisation process and addressing their concerns and needs are crucial for successful integration of digital health technologies. By leveraging their insights and providing adequate support and training, the healthcare sector can navigate the digital transformation more effectively, ultimately enhancing the work of the healthcare professionals and thereby patient care and outcomes.
This document was written between April 2024 and June 2024 based on the results of the questionnaire: Digitalisation adoption among healthcare professionals
This document was written between April 2024 and June 2024 based on the results of the questionnaire: Digitalisation adoption among healthcare professionals
Main author:
Bryan Quak: Digital Health specialist, digitalswitzerland
Support from:
Jade Sternberg, Senior Project Lead Digital Health, digitalswitzerland
Colin Wallace, Senior Corporate Communications specialist, digitalswitzerland
About digitalswitzerland
digitalswitzerland is a Swiss-wide, cross-industry initiative that aims to transform Switzerland into a leading digital nation. Along with our network of 170+ association members and non-political partners, including more than 1,000 top executives, we’re engaged in over 25 projects to inspire, initiate, co-create and lead digital change in Switzerland.
Our mission is to orchestrate the digital transformation of Switzerland to become a leading digital nation. To achieve this goal, we work closely together with our members, partners, and other important stakeholders. We address all aspects of digitalisation and focus on generating impact in relevant topics, such as Education, Professionals and Diversity, Digital Health, and more.
About Digital Health initiative
digitalswitzerland’s Digital Health initiative aims to digitalise the entire healthcare system in Switzerland and make it patient-centric. This will help increase transparency, accessibility and understanding of health information for the entire Swiss population. All healthcare actors need to collaborate, including the healthcare professionals and patients to achieve this ambitious goal.
| Term | Definition |
| Administrative Burden | The workload associated with administrative tasks such as documentation and scheduling. |
| AMA (American Medical Association) | A professional association for physicians in the United States that supports the advancement of medical practice. |
| Automated Voice-to-Text Tool | Technology that converts spoken language into written text automatically. |
| Barriers | Obstacles that prevent the successful implementation or adoption of something. |
| Careum Foundation | A Swiss institution that offers educational courses for healthcare professionals. |
| CAS (Certified Advanced Studies) | Specialised postgraduate courses aimed at providing advanced knowledge in specific areas. |
| Champion | An advocate or proponent who actively supports or promotes something. |
| COBEDIAS | A Swiss pilot project focusing on early disease recognition. |
| Co-design Framework | A collaborative approach involving various stakeholders in the design and development process. |
| Continuous Evaluation | Ongoing assessment to ensure that a process or system meets its goals and remains effective. |
| Data Interoperability | The ability of different systems and organisations to exchange and use data seamlessly. |
| Digital Health Tools | Technologies designed to improve healthcare delivery and patient outcomes through digital means. |
| Digital Health Solutions | Applications and technologies used to improve health care services and delivery through digital means. |
| Digital Literacy | The ability to use information and communication technologies, to find, evaluate, create and communicate information, requiring both cognitive and technical skills |
| Digital Network Structure | A framework that allows different digital systems to connect and communicate. |
| Digital Transformation | The integration of digital technology into all areas of a business, fundamentally changing how it operates. |
| Digitalisation | The process of converting information into a digital format. |
| FDA (Food and Drug Administration) | The US government agency responsible for regulating food, drugs, and medical devices. |
| Hacking Attacks | Unauthorised access to computer systems to steal or manipulate data. |
| Healthcare Professionals (HCPs) | Medical personnel such as doctors, nurses, and other health practitioners. |
| Hospital Information System | An integrated system that manages the administrative, financial, and clinical aspects of a hospital. |
| In-depth Online Research | Comprehensive and detailed investigation conducted via the internet. |
| Infrastructure | The basic physical and organisational structures needed for the operation of a society or enterprise. |
| Multi-sector Collaborations | Partnerships that involve multiple sectors or industries working together. |
| Non-intuitive Systems | Systems that are not easy to use or understand without significant training. |
| Personal Health Data | Information related to an individual’s health status, healthcare, or medical history. |
| Pilot Projects | Initial small-scale implementations of a project to test its feasibility and benefits. |
| Post-implementation | The phase after a new system or technology has been deployed, focusing on its continued use and improvement. |
| SIWF (Schweizerische Institut für ärztliche Weiter- und Fortbildung) | A Swiss institute for medical education and continuing education. |
| Telemedicine | The use of telecommunications technology to provide medical care remotely. |
| Wearable Devices | Electronic devices worn on the body that can track health metrics like heart rate and activity levels. |
| WHO (World Health Organization) | An international public health agency of the United Nations. |
Chapter 2.1 Digital Health and Tools
2.1.1 What are your thoughts when it comes to Digital Health?
2.1.2 How do you rate your digital literacy?
2.1.3 Which digital health solutions could benefit your work? What do you want to be implemented?
2.1.4 Do you already use specific digital health tools or wearables to track your patient’s health status?
2.2 Support and Involvement
2.2.1 How could you be supported in adopting digital health solutions?
2.2.2 How do you familiarise yourself with new technologies? Do you use platforms or tools to better adopt digitalisation in your daily work?
2.2.3 Would you like to be involved in the design and development of digital health solutions? Are you already involved?
2.2.4 If you are interested in being part of the innovation process, what type of involvement would you like to have?
2.3 Barriers
2.3.1 Which barriers do you see when it comes to the implementation of digital solutions?
2.3.2 Could you elaborate on the barriers about the implementation of digital solutions that you checked above?
2.3.3 Are you worried about the protection of personal health data?
2.3.4 Why are you (not) worried?
2.4 Optimising adoption process
2.4.1 What do you think is needed to improve adoption of digitalisation among healthcare professionals?
2.4.2 Why is digitalisation in healthcare currently not improving at your workplace? What do your think are the reasons for slow pace digitalisation in healthcare?
2.4.3 Would you like to add something to this questionnaire? Is there an important topic for you related to Digital Health we didn’t discuss?
Graph 2 – Gender
Graph 3 – Age Groups
Graph 4 – Profession
Graph 5 – Type of Workplace
Graph 7 – Workplace rural of urban
Graph 8 – Region of Workplace
Graph 9 – Linguistic region of workplace
The adoption of digitalisation by healthcare professionals: Insights and Opportunities
Zurich, 2.07.2024
Although great care has been taken in the preparation of this publication, the author and contributors involved are not responsible for the accuracy of the data, information and advice provided, nor for any printing errors.
All rights reserved, including translation into other languages. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transcribed and/or translated into any computer language, including any information processing language, in any form without the prior written permission of the authors.
The rights to the trademarks mentioned remain with their respective owners.
Coordination of the publication: Bryan Quak, Jade Sternberg and Colin Wallace (digitalswitzerland)
Graphic design: Lina Alice Machts (Ads and Ventures)
This publication is addressed to players of the digital health ecosystem in Switzerland. It provides clear and actionable recommendations to facilitate the transition between the end of design phase and the deployment phase, tackling crucial aspects of the challenge. The recommendations were collected during an insightful event for digital health organisations in Western Switzerland co-organised by digitalswitzerland and Biopôle on 30 April, featuring Tigen Pharma’s achievements in the space and an interactive expert panel discussion.
Digitalisation opens up a whole new source of knowledge for stakeholders to collect, store and share data between different healthcare stakeholders. Digital health solutions have been growing massively in Switzerland in the last years, expanding in various areas such as telemedicine, wearables, patient records, healthy ageing, mental health, femtech, value-based healthcare and personalised medicine. Western Switzerland has a strong footprint in the digital health innovation space with the presence of universities and university hospitals, innovation hubs, and a large biotech ecosystem2. Digital health startups and scaleups face many hurdles when transitioning between the end of design and the deployment of the digital health solutions. 90%3 of startups do not make it through their first year, and 50% survive through the first five years.
“We do not only collaborate with startups. We learn! We need to get this knowledge, it’s a real collaboration. We bring our skills and gain learnings from them – it’s important!” – Sébastien Fabbri
“This is precisely the role of the Genolier Innovation hub, to bring the healthcare stakeholders together under one roof (patients and doctors) and reduce the latency time.” – Anna Gräbner
“Diversifying our team enriches our thinking, improves our decision making and strengthens our position in the market.” – Anna Gräbner
“To differentiate, you need to have a strong concept. To be memorable you must be able to scale. You need a well-founded architecture with high privacy, security, interoperability aspects but also a user centric interface.” Sébastien Fabbri
“Please never disclose your know-how and your inventions in public publications because it will then fall into the public domain, and anyone can then use it.” – Lorenza Ferrari Hofer
“You should not be in love with your first idea.” – Antoine Maison
Founded in 2004 by the canton of Vaud public authorities, Biopôle SA is a private, not-for-profit organisation, which owns, manages and promotes the life sciences campus. We believe that interpersonal and inter-company relationships are the key to successful innovation. That’s why we focus on creating an environment in which you and your teams can prosper by collaborating with the Biopôle community and beyond. Biopôle is particularly active in supporting digital health. With dedicated offices and IT infrastructure (Digital Health Hub), innovation programmes (Biopôle/SHS Digital Health Vanguard Accelerator), and dedicated funding (Biopôle Fund – Digital Health track), Biopôle counts among its member more than 30 companies using digital health technologies to deploy their solution.
digitalswitzerland is a Swiss-wide, cross-industry initiative that aims to transform Switzerland into a leading digital nation. Along with our network of 170+ association members and non-political partners, including more than 1,000 top executives, we’re engaged in over 25 projects to inspire, initiate, co-create and lead digital change in Switzerland. Digital Health is a focus program of digitalswitzerland which aims to digitalise the entire healthcare system in Switzerland and make it patient-centric. We drive various activities in collaboration with the different healthcare stakeholders in the sector on topics like the electronic patient record, digital health literacy and more. digitalswitzerland also enables digital health scaleups to be positioned as thought leaders in the ecosystem through the Digital Health Academy, a 6-month cohort-based programme for scaleups which enable patients to better understand and monitor their data.
Footnotes
1) ELCA supports Tigen to accelerate cell-based cancer therapies, 2023
(digitalswitzerland, 2023)
2) The Swiss healthcare system: entering a new digital era A visualisation of the pioneering solutions that inspire a digital health ecosystem
3) Power-Launch of the Swiss Startup Association
4) private data centres that companies house in their own facilities and maintain themselves
5) cloud computing environment dedicated to a single organisation
6) cloud computing model where IT infrastructure like servers, networking, and storage resources are
offered as virtual resources accessible over the internet
7) use of cloud services from more than one cloud vendor
8) Data security is the process of protecting digital information from unauthorised access, corruption or theft throughout its entire lifecycle.
9) Data sovereignty refers to a group or individual’s right to control and maintain their own data, which includes the collection, storage, and interpretation of data.
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