COReHealth
CORe-Health is the regional telemedicine operations centre for chronic diseases and clinical networks. Presented during the Fifth Mediterranean Forum on Health, COReHealth operates in collaboration with the Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Policlinico di Bari - Giovanni XXIII, both for the healthcare component necessary for the provision of services and for the logistical hosting of the operational and technological component, enhancing and pooling what has already been achieved for the telecardiology operations centre.
Thanks to COReHealth, people with chronic pathologies can be treated at home, therefore in a comfortable environment, thus reducing hospitalisation and visits to outpatient clinics. In fact, it allows self-management of one's illness and the possibility of being constantly followed, monitored and treated even at a distance or with timely interventions. The Central Unit is an important innovative tool in patient care processes, allowing greater equity of access to healthcare, while guaranteeing continuity of care and better quality of care.
The Central Unit provides the care team with a cloud (back-office) platform for the telematic management of their patients, offering, among the main services: customised patient monitoring paths (telemonitoring), teleassistance, tele-consultation and tele-health services, digitised services for taking charge of, customising and managing patient care plans, logistics management/warehouse of medical device kits.
The medical team, according to the specific need, provides the patient with the medical device kit (tablet, saturimeter, multiparameter, scale, etc.) aimed at detecting and monitoring salient parameters in real time. If these are not within the norm, an automatic alarm system is triggered that leads to immediate intervention.
An app, available for Android and iOS, allows the patient to stay in touch with his specialist doctor and caregiver (video calls and chat), to consult the agenda of scheduled televisits with his treatment team, to view his treatment plan and the entry of vital parameters that are communicated to the doctor in real time; it also facilitates the measurement of compliance with the treatment pathway (medication intake, lifestyle).
At present, the Centre operates in the oncology and haematology network, in the rare diseases network and in some chronicity experiences on the territory.
The success of COReHealth is testified by the awards and recognitions it has received. The National Agency for Health Services (Agenas) awarded the project the prize for innovation in digital health.
This result follows the decision by the Minister for Technological Innovation and Digital Transition to identify Apulia, together with Lombardy, as the forerunner for the development of national telemedicine platforms.
All this has attracted the interest of national and local newspapers, starting with Report. Rai 3's in-depth programme dealt with the Telemedicine Operations Centre, describing how Apulia's 'virtual hospital' works.
From La Repubblica to Sole 24 Ore, passing through sector magazines such as Panorama Sanità, Medilogy, About pharma, Nurse Times and the local Edicola del Sud, TeleBari e Foggia today, there are many newspapers that have dealt with COReHealth, which has become a virtuous example and a model for other regions to follow.
The Strategic Manager is Giovanni Gorgoni, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of AReSS; the Operational Manager is Ottavio Di Cillo; Vito Petrarolo and Pasquale Notarangelo are respectively the Single Project Manager (RUP) and the Contract Execution Director (DEC) of the project.
