Medicine Men creates design for new European heart failure care together with UMC Utrecht and Hospital Gelderse Vallei

UMC Utrecht and Hospital Gelderse Vallei, together with Medicine Men, are designing future integrated heart failure care in three regions in Spain, Italy and Sweden. The number of heart failure patients is rising rapidly, and people there are looking for smart solutions that give patients more control while relieving caregivers. Here, heart failure patients will receive counseling at all stages of their disease, supported by digital technology. The two hospitals were chosen by the European TIQUE program to create this design. Hospital Gelderse Vallei will test components in its own region in the next phase with support from UMC Utrecht. The knowledge gained can later be used to improve Dutch heart failure care.

With an aging population and the increase in diseases of affluence, the number of patients with heart failure is also growing rapidly. At the same time, there is pressure on healthcare spending and a shortage of healthcare personnel in all European countries. Within the European Horizon2020 program, the three European regions of Catalonia, Avellino and Västerbotten have launched a tender under the name “TIQUE” for a new form of regional heart failure care. Key goals of TIQUE are to give patients as much self-direction as possible and support them wherever possible through digital technology, such as home measurement, active medication adjustment, e-learning, decision support, virtual care center (regional care center), chatbots and apps. Family caregivers can take over some of the support from caregivers with the right information. It also considers whether a professional case manager would add value. Special attention is paid to the palliative phase and a focus on patient quality of life.

Prof. Pim van der Harst, head of the Department of Cardiology at UMC Utrecht: “TIQUE is interesting and important to us because it gives us the opportunity to link patient, first-, second- and third-line care, gain knowledge about how other countries are approaching this issue, and eventually deploy this integrated person-centered approach in heart failure care in the Netherlands“.

Paul de Vries, Project Leader eHealth and Innovation at Hospital Gelderse Vallei: “We cooperate with several organizations in the Gelderse Valley region. This is sometimes complex. Therefore, we are open to smart digital solutions for patients and loved ones and to strengthen collaboration between healthcare providers in our region. The TIQUE design can be a basis for this“.

The Dutch consortium is led by Medicine Men,developer of the Viduet telemedicine platform. In addition to the three consortium partners, UP learning, Mediquest, Aurora Innovation AB, Machine2Learn and PEXlife are participating in this project.

About the TIQUE buyer group

TIQUE, headed by the Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau in Barcelona, represents the regions of Catalonia in Spain, Västerbotten in Sweden and the Italian province of Avellino. More information can be found at https://www.tiquepcp.eu/ca/web/tique.

About the partners

UMC Utrecht is an international university medical center with the core functions of care, research and education. With over 12,000 employees, UMC Utrecht, of which the Wilhelmina Children’s Hospital is a part, is one of the largest public healthcare institutions in the Netherlands and the largest employer in the region. Our mission: together we improve people’s health and create the care of tomorrow. Together we create more value, because every person counts.

Hospital Gelderse Vallei in Ede is a safe hospital that provides care based on the latest scientific knowledge. Care is high quality, well organized and people-oriented. Together with the patient and other healthcare providers in the network, the hospital works to achieve health gains for the patient. The hospital does this through treatments and prevention of disease, with attention to quality of life. Hospital Gelderse Vallei gives patients tools with which they themselves can build a healthy lifestyle, based on the building blocks: nutrition, exercise and sleep. In doing so, the hospital offers them health benefits for the rest of their lives.

Medicine Men in Bunnik has been building self-care applications focused on patients with chronic illnesses or requiring home monitoring since 2015. The Viduet platform was developed to provide healthcare providers with the right tools to optimally support and monitor their patients, clients and rehabilitants remotely. Viduet is used within hospitals, general practices, home care and network care for all chronic diseases. Medicine Men’s mission is to return at least 1 million hours of time to healthcare providers by 2030. Viduet won the 2022 National Health Valley Bridge Prize.

Participating companies

UP learning
Aurora Innovation (Aurora TeleQ)
Mediquest
Machine2Learn
PEX life