IBM Case Studies An insurance company in Austria develops a telemedicine system

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	An insurance company in Austria develops a telemedicine system IBM

An insurance company in Austria develops a telemedicine system

IBM

Technology Category	Application Infrastructure & Middleware - API Integration & Management Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) - Cloud Computing Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) - Cloud Databases
Applicable Industries	Healthcare & Hospitals
Use Cases	Remote Patient Monitoring
Services	Cloud Planning, Design & Implementation Services Data Science Services
Challenge	The Austrian public insurance company, which provides health, pension and accident coverage to 260,000 railway workers and miners, was facing a dramatic increase in the percentage of the population suffering from type 2 diabetes. The lifetime costs per patient were averaging EUR150,000, prompting the company to shift its focus from traditional to preventive care. Effective screening, treatment and management of at-risk or already afflicted patients can slow or even halt the advance of type 2 diabetes. However, proactive treatment requires close cooperation between physician and patient, with success directly dependent on precise medication management and challenging lifestyle changes demanding a high degree of motivation. The insurer required a convenient way to monitor compliance on a daily basis, in near-real time, while offering ease of use to facilitate patient autonomy and participation. Read More
About Customer	The customer is a public insurance company based in Austria. It provides health, pension, and accident coverage to a large number of railway workers and miners, totaling 260,000 individuals. The company was facing a significant challenge due to a dramatic increase in the percentage of the population suffering from type 2 diabetes. The lifetime costs per patient were averaging EUR150,000, which was a significant financial burden for the company. In response to this, the company decided to shift its focus from traditional care to preventive care. The goal was to slow or even halt the advance of type 2 diabetes through effective screening, treatment, and management of at-risk or already afflicted patients. Read More
Solution	In collaboration with IBM, the insurer developed a telemedicine program that helps physicians monitor patient compliance with prescribed treatment programs, including adjusting medications and treatment quickly and remotely. The core of the system is a mobile diabetes memory diary, a custom-designed database solution built on an IBM DB2 data server hosted on an IBM System z10 Business Class server, developed with IBM Rational and IBM WebSphere software. The solution integrates medical devices such as blood pressure gauges, blood glucose meters and weight scales with cell phones to help patients monitor their vital values. The solution automatically forwards patient data to the diabetes memory database, and an algorithm compares actual results to expected standards, immediately notifying physicians if results exceed critical thresholds. Physicians then respond rapidly to adjust patient treatment to avert the cascading complications that can worsen the disease. Read More Log in to view content
Contents

Technology Category

Application Infrastructure & Middleware - API Integration & Management

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) - Cloud Computing

Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) - Cloud Databases

Applicable Industries

Healthcare & Hospitals

Use Cases

Remote Patient Monitoring

Services

Cloud Planning, Design & Implementation Services

Data Science Services

Challenge

The Austrian public insurance company, which provides health, pension and accident coverage to 260,000 railway workers and miners, was facing a dramatic increase in the percentage of the population suffering from type 2 diabetes. The lifetime costs per patient were averaging EUR150,000, prompting the company to shift its focus from traditional to preventive care. Effective screening, treatment and management of at-risk or already afflicted patients can slow or even halt the advance of type 2 diabetes. However, proactive treatment requires close cooperation between physician and patient, with success directly dependent on precise medication management and challenging lifestyle changes demanding a high degree of motivation. The insurer required a convenient way to monitor compliance on a daily basis, in near-real time, while offering ease of use to facilitate patient autonomy and participation.

About Customer

The customer is a public insurance company based in Austria. It provides health, pension, and accident coverage to a large number of railway workers and miners, totaling 260,000 individuals. The company was facing a significant challenge due to a dramatic increase in the percentage of the population suffering from type 2 diabetes. The lifetime costs per patient were averaging EUR150,000, which was a significant financial burden for the company. In response to this, the company decided to shift its focus from traditional care to preventive care. The goal was to slow or even halt the advance of type 2 diabetes through effective screening, treatment, and management of at-risk or already afflicted patients.

Solution

In collaboration with IBM, the insurer developed a telemedicine program that helps physicians monitor patient compliance with prescribed treatment programs, including adjusting medications and treatment quickly and remotely. The core of the system is a mobile diabetes memory diary, a custom-designed database solution built on an IBM DB2 data server hosted on an IBM System z10 Business Class server, developed with IBM Rational and IBM WebSphere software. The solution integrates medical devices such as blood pressure gauges, blood glucose meters and weight scales with cell phones to help patients monitor their vital values. The solution automatically forwards patient data to the diabetes memory database, and an algorithm compares actual results to expected standards, immediately notifying physicians if results exceed critical thresholds. Physicians then respond rapidly to adjust patient treatment to avert the cascading complications that can worsen the disease.

Impact #1	The solution fundamentally transforms the treatment of type 2 diabetes and helps dramatically reduce the need for emergency treatment or hospitalization.
Impact #2	Patients exchange inconvenient, face-to-face, single point-in-time consultations with physicians for continuous home-based tracking and analysis of key parameters using telemedicine, promoting effective, reality-based treatment.
Impact #3	More frequent data reporting and analysis helps improve patient health, lower costs and reduce escalated interventions.

Impact #1

The solution fundamentally transforms the treatment of type 2 diabetes and helps dramatically reduce the need for emergency treatment or hospitalization.

Impact #2

Patients exchange inconvenient, face-to-face, single point-in-time consultations with physicians for continuous home-based tracking and analysis of key parameters using telemedicine, promoting effective, reality-based treatment.

Impact #3

More frequent data reporting and analysis helps improve patient health, lower costs and reduce escalated interventions.

Benefit #1	Reduces healthcare costs by tens of millions of Euros by emphasizing prevention and proactive care
Benefit #2	Helps identify at-risk patients and quickly integrate them into the program, further reducing costs
Benefit #3	Uses telemedicine and insurance records to calculate ROI to measure treatment efficacy

Benefit #1

Reduces healthcare costs by tens of millions of Euros by emphasizing prevention and proactive care

Benefit #2

Helps identify at-risk patients and quickly integrate them into the program, further reducing costs

Benefit #3

Uses telemedicine and insurance records to calculate ROI to measure treatment efficacy

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Overview

An insurance company in Austria develops a telemedicine system

Operational Impact

Quantitative Benefit