Patient engagement through e-health

Patients are ready to adapt and adopt technology to monitor health and disease. During Digital Health Days we will meet patients who will be sharing their personal experienced from e-health tools and services for managing their health and medical treatment: early adopters to existing solutions; and adapters who have taken development of e-health in their own hands.

On August 26, during the e-health conference Digital Health Days – Henrik Ahlén will moderate the session Engaged Epatients. The aim of the session is to show how digital e-health tools are used by patients to create change in real life.

- I will focus on patients who are in the front line today, trailblazers for the disruptive shift that have already started in health care. E-health solutions can and will be a solution to the challenge of the increasing health care demands, says Henrik Ahlén, e-health advisor and moderator of the session Engaged Epatients.

Sweden has the conditions needed to build an industry for the global market around e-health.

- With an ICT-mature population and a large number of go-ahead e-health entrepreneurs, Sweden could serve as an excellent international test bed. What we lack is a health care system ready to embrace e-health tools and reimbursement models that enable innovation and wide-spread adoption, says Henrik Ahlén.

During the Engaged Epatients session, we will meet a number of people with chronic diseases who are sharing their personal experiences from using e-health tools to manage their health and medical treatment.

 Among them is a COPD patient who uses an internet-connected spirometer to measure lung status, the father of a daughter with cystic fibrosis who missed a tool for logging her health status and communicating with others, and a diabetic who created her own mobile app for insulin regulation.

- There is a disruptive force coming now from the patients - not from the health care system. A growing number of e-patients want to use online tools and mobile apps to manage their health and demand that they should be able to share and discuss their data with doctors and nurses. I hope the Engaged Epatients session will be an eye-opener for stakeholders in the health care system, but also inspire anyone interested in taking a lead of their own health, says Henrik Ahlén.

About Digital Health Days

Digital|Health 2014 in Stockholm is the number one conference for the world of digital health. Started out in 2013 the first Digital|Health pushed the boundaries of thinking and practice further than ever before. People from global pharma companies, hi-tech and smart money met. In 2013, focus was on subjects like gamification for healthier lives; the physician as health coach; patients’ roles in developing new products and treatments and decision support.

Digital Health Days is founded by the City of Stockholm, Stockholm Chamber of Commerce, Stockholmsmässan, Stockholm Science City Foundation and Kista Science City. The three latter parts are organizers of Digital Health Days 2014.

Digital Health Days takes place in Stockholm on August 25-26. For registration and further information, see www.digitalhealthdays.se

Contact

Nima Jokilaakso, event manager of Digital Health Days, telephone +46 (0)707 89 44 50.