In close co-operation, Orange Business Services and Weinmann, a global manufacturer of therapeutic system solutions in sleep medicine and ventilation, have developed homecareONLINE, a fully-integrated, end-to-end connected medical device solution for sleep therapy.
Sleep apnea effects can be improved by CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) devices prescribed by healthcare professionals. With homeCareONLINE, clinically useful data is collected from patients through Weinmann CPAP devices in strict compliance with e-health regulations and international data protection guidelines.
Data is hosted on “Flexible Computing Santé,” Orange Business Services’ infrastructure as a service solution dedicated to medical data. The data, including graphical representations, is available through a secure application to registered users and official healthcare system representatives.
homecareONLINE supports homecare providers to improve their patient care and working processes as well as to optimise patient reimbursement.
It provides the opportunity to homecare providers to get close to their patients without travelling and also fulfils the latest regulatory requirements. Indeed, an increasing number of governments and public health systems are requiring that medical equipment manufacturers such as Weinmann include remote monitoring capability for the therapy device in order to be covered by medical insurance or for reimbursement.
Sleep apnea is a serious sleep-related respiratory disorder which causes daytime sleepiness possibly leading to road accidents, but also impairs the cardio-vascular system, being an important risk factor for myocardial infarction and stroke.
In order to meet Weinmann’s targeted market launch, Orange Business Services helped to develop homecareONLINE in six months relying on its wide expertise in both machine-to-machine (M2M) solutions and e-health.
The solution is based on a communication module integrated into Weinmann CPAP devices which sends device usage and clinical data information via the secure Orange network to a “Connected Health Center”.
This cloud platform enables the seamless, automatic and secure flow of data from patients to care providers who can access them via a secure Web portal. The efficient development of the solution was also permitted by Intelligent Apps Enabler, Orange Business Services’ platform to develop M2M applications.
Dr. Karl-Andreas Feldhahn, CTO at Weinmann, says: “We chose Orange Business Services as our partner for this solution for several reasons. Orange is the only service provider that could rollout a cloud-based platform that is scalable and flexible. With Orange, we just have one partner for all tasks – SIM connection, application development and integration, hosting services as well as service management – all on a one-stop-shop basis.
“Orange Business Services’ global presence and reach enabling uniform e-health services across countries is a critical factor for us, allowing us to make available scalable monitoring services for our medical equipment via a secure, private network to our customers in many countries.”
“In only six months and thanks to an excellent, intense cooperation with the customer, we implemented with Weinmann a very innovative M2M solution that is exemplary for many other M2M healthcare applications,” says Dr. Helmut Reisinger, senior vice president for Europe, Russia and CIS, Orange Business Services.
“With an increasing drive to enhance patients’ healthcare, manage related costs and meet emerging regulations, market leaders like Weinmann have assumed a pioneering role in M2M healthcare applications. Orange is pleased that we could contribute our M2M and healthcare expertise in order to create an innovative solution for Weinmann that will be used at the global level.”