Estimated reading time: 4-6 minutes
SC: It is well known that Italy has one of the world’s largest aging populations, second only to Japan, which means that chronic disease management is becoming a critical issue. Twenty-four million people in Italy –around 40% of the population – suffer from one or more chronic conditions, with around 1.5 million taking more than 10 different medicines a day. Therapy compliance, especially in the over 65s, is a big issue. Add the fact that 2 million Italians give up on medical examinations because waiting lists are too long, and 4 million miss out on specialist examinations because they lack financial resources, and you begin to realize how big the challenges are.
One example of how we’re tackling these challenges is our partnership with Pfizer and Politecnico di Milano to promote the use of digital health models and tools, especially tele-monitoring solutions, in order to improve therapy adherence and appropriateness by ensuring continuity and better quality homecare for chronic disease patients. A 90-patient pilot study increased therapy compliance to 98.8% and achieved high satisfaction scores from both patients and healthcare professionals, so the partners are already rolling out the program to new geographies and therapeutic areas. It’s a typical example of how Philips is helping to build end-to-end solutions that improve people’s lives.