Transformation in Medicine
For Cardiomatics CEO Rafał Samborski, healthcare is going through a major transformation: “We live in times of a paradigm change. The trend leads away from examinations on-premise, heading towards decision and process support based on cloud systems. This is happening in medicine just as it is reshaping finance and logistics. – We very much appreciate working with future-oriented physicians such as Dr. Ingold because they are quick to grasp the benefits of new technologies. For us, clients like Herzpraxis Interlaken play a major role because they represent reference installations which help build trust regarding innovations, such as artificial intelligence, in their fellow physicians. In addition, we ask these pioneers for advice regarding additional features for our solution”.
The cardiology department of Interlaken Hospital in Switzerland puts trust in digital solution from Cardiomatics
During past years, enrollment for 7-day ECGs have increased significantly at Interlaken Hospital. In many of these cases, detection of atrial fibrillation (AF) following a cerebrovascular event is the goal. “To analyze these exams takes a lot of time, and it presented us with staff availability issues”, recalls Dr. med. Ulrich Ingold. “We realized we need a better solution”, says the cardiologist who works for Herzpraxis Interlaken, the cardiology department of the hospital.
At the beginning, plans at the hospital were to meet this challenge by adding staff. “By coincidence, I witnessed a presentation of the Cardiomatics software at the ‘Digital Hub’ at a Congress of the European Society of Cardiology. This made it clear to me that, instead, a technological solution for this issue was viable”, the physician continues.
From Rafał Samborski’s viewpoint, negotiations were straightforward because the software is a perfect fit regarding the requirements of the hospital. Costs, according to the Cardiomatics CEO, were favorable compared to savings.
Strengths of the technology compared with other solutions
“The technology manufacturer Cardiomatics offers a suitable and convenient solution for the evaluation of 7-day ECGs and Holter ECGs”, is Dr. Ingold’s judgment. “Our USP compared to the market is that we support long-term monitoring digitally – something which is not offered with a similar performance by others”, adds Samborski.
The cardiologist sees a key benefit compared to the market in the continuing further development and optimization of the technology by Cardiomatics. – “We were able to integrate our existing long-term monitoring ECG solution into the software. We therefore did not have to invest in new recorders. – The quality of the ECG prints is high.”
The IT environment
Cardio exams are carried out in the cardiology department of the hospital. In-patients are referred here, and the team establishes the diagnoses. According to the cardiologist, the implementation of the software was smooth thanks to the support from Cardiomatics.
“Right from the start, we developed our solution with the aim of making integration as seamless as possible”, outlines Samborski. The entire platform is Web-based, and no installations are necessary on the client side. “Communication between the hospital and our servers is encrypted; we use the most up-to-date cloud technologies to warrant the safety of patient data. During implementation, the Cardiomatics team provided all the support required, and the entire solution went live and became daily routine after only a very few days”.
The cardiology team works in a Windows environment and uses iPads. The hospital was able to continue using its existing infrastructure; no additional investments were required. Dr. Ingold: “Integrating the Cardiomatics system does not cause any challenges because it is fully Web-based. Output from our recorders can be read into the Web appliccation directly, and we also receive the reports via the Web.” As far as patients are concerned, there are no changes to their experience, with the same recorders being used as before the changeover.
“Our collaboration with Cardiomatics is excellent”, commends the cardiologist. To him, a key benefit is that the analysis algorithm is constantly updated and improved. “Whenever we have questions, we quickly get a response. The system is robust.”
High degree of acceptance
The analysis by Cardiomatics is highly appreciated by the cardiologists, underlines Dr. Ingold: “This solution facilitates our evaluation significantly, and the reports are transparent and user-friendly. No-one in our team would want to do without Cardiomatics today“. Regarding acceptance, patients notice no difference in processes, and primary physicians find the explicit reports helpful.
Resilient in daily routine
The team uses Cardiomatics for the evaluation of all long-term ECGs: “Results are very good, in particular regarding the detection of AF. We still have our legacy analysis software available, which would allow us to check each analysis … which is typically only required on rare occasions with specific issues”.
“Every month, we evaluate thousands of hours of ECG recordings for Interlaken Hospital – and we are glad to deliver a reliable service which is valuable to hundreds of patients”, adds Samborksi. Resulting data support the manufacturer in the continuous optimization of the system.
Goals have been reached
“We are absolutely satisfied with Cardiomatics”, underlines the cardiologist: the time staff invests in evaluations has been significantly reduced, and the quality of the analysis is high. Just like his colleagues, Dr. Ingold is positive: “We would not think of doing without Cardiomatics now”.
For Samborski, perspectives for future developments are promising: “With our solution being Web-based, we can easily make additions and integrate improvements. In the coming months, we will further advance the performance of our algorithms regarding speed and sensitivity”.