Similar to most industries, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a strong impact on the insurance industry. One notable change is that more insurers are now open to preventative care, health, and safety coverage.

In an interview with Omnia Health Magazine, Georges Chidiac, Executive Vice President of Damana, said that over the past year, the company analysed the results of providing coverage for prevention and found that it lowers future costs associated with preventable diseases.

Preventative care is routine healthcare that includes screenings and services to help prevent illness, disease, or other health problems from developing into bigger complications by detecting issues early and treating them accordingly.

Moreover, mandatory healthcare insurance is becoming the norm across the Middle East. Following the pandemic, governments are realising the importance of health insurance for their populations, perhaps more so given the costs associated with COVID-19 care. Mandatory health insurance will help ease the financial burden on governments in such scenarios in the future. As a well-known insurer in the Gulf area and Lebanon, Damana is leading this change.

Chidiac also discussed the company’s approach in addressing the increase in demand for telemedicine. He said: “As a leading regional insurer, we are constantly exploring ways to enhance our capabilities and contribute to industry development. Thanks to advancement in technology, telemedicine is evolving, and we welcome the shift towards increased adoption of the service. Damana has been at the forefront of telemedicine in the region; we were one of the first companies to build a network of partners that offer telemedicine services.

“As with any industry development, there is more to be done. In order to provide the right level of service, we have profiled standalone telemedicine service providers and are assessing their capabilities and compliance with regulations before proceeding to the next stage.”

When asked about the trends that are most likely to emerge this year, he said that 2020 witnessed a surge in care support. The demand for qualified nurses more than doubled during the pandemic and, according to Chidiac, this will continue well into 2021 and beyond.

“Increasing nursing staff levels relieves pressures on doctors,” he emphasised. “Additionally, the pandemic created opportunities for major developments in other segments, including medical devices and, personal protective equipment (PPE), breathing apparatus, ventilators, pharmaceuticals, and personal care. One segment, in particular, to look at is the cost of consumables in hospitals, an area that has increased by 2 per cent to 5 per cent given the rise in demand from medical personnel requiring more equipment and protection.”

Georges Chidiac

Long-term outlook in the Middle East

According to Chidiac, there has been a major shift in international medical insurance, which was already trending pre-pandemic and, as the world resumes activity, this demand will surge again.

He highlighted that in Oman, Bahrain, and Kuwait, governments are currently exploring their options for introducing mandatory insurance.

Furthermore, moving forward, technology will continue to play an even bigger role in the health insurance industry, in the region as well as globally, assisting in process management, boosting efficiency, and reducing costs.

He said: “Telemedicine will eventually become our remote monitoring facility, which should ultimately help tackle medical inflation, something that has long been a challenge for the Middle East health insurance sector. We are constantly exploring opportunities to grow and extend our expertise across the Middle East. Key markets for expansion are Kuwait, Oman, and Bahrain.

“As a leading insurance company, we are seeking opportunities to expand coverage into international markets, increasing our capabilities and offering affordable health benefits to our customers as they return to international travel.”

Chidiac said that as an organisation, Damana takes great pride in its agility and adaptability to evolving situations. The company’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic was a swift and efficient transition to remote working to ensure the well-being of its teams and to continue delivering for clients.

“Our commitment to digital transformation meant we were well prepared for this outcome and were able to equip teams with the necessary tools to work from anywhere, resulting in uninterrupted client service,” he shared. “With a duty to upskill our employees to keep pace with changing environments, we implemented processes, procedures, training and awareness to make sure our business was cyber secure as we made the transition.”

The company also increased its internal communications, which have become especially important in these challenging times, introduced wellness initiatives and amplified the frequency of communications to keep teams informed of changes in business operations and the global COVID-19 situation.

“Despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, our teams maintained their focus, drive and dedication to continue excelling, servicing clients without disruption. It is a testament to our employees that we maintain a high level of client satisfaction and retention in an ever-changing industry,” he concluded.

This article appears in the latest issue of Omnia Health Magazine. Read the full issue online today, covering femtech, AI, IoT and much more.  

COVID-19 resulted in patients holding off most procedures related to oncology, cardiology, neurology and general radiology. Also, elective procedures in hospitals and diagnostic centres came to a halt. Moreover, restructuring of procurement budgets had to be done to address COVID-19 related requirements first. This caused disruptions in trade, supply chain, and manufacturing globally.

The radiology industry was especially hit hard as this resulted in a delay of procurements of other capital-intensive equipment such as imaging modalities. Manufacturing of ultrasound, CT (computerized tomography) and mobile X-ray systems, as well as other imaging systems were also stalled or delayed.

Related: Omnia Health Magazine April – May 2021

In an interview with Omnia Health Magazine, Srikanth Kompalli, Program Manager, Healthcare & Life Sciences Practice, Frost & Sullivan, said that CT, X-ray (digital and portable), and ultrasound (point-of-care) modalities were at the forefront for effective, and early diagnosis of COVID-19 across the globe, as well as in the GCC countries.

He said: “Regarding the business impact within the radiology modalities, nearly 40-45 per cent of the market was affected at unit shipments scale, and for the GCC this had a greater proportion tied towards import of equipment’s (as almost all imaging equipment are 100 per cent imported). Further, in H1 2020, due to supply chain disruptions globally, the business had to be managed with current capacity, and the immediate ordering had to be based on stock availability with manufacturers/distributors within the GCC region.”

Related: Impact of COVID-19 on radiology services

In terms of business metrics, Kompalli highlighted, the imaging market was the hardest hit market due to the pandemic, and the business loss was close to almost 45 per cent in the GCC region. Apart from immediate procurements of mobile X-ray, portable ultrasound systems (laptop / hand-carried), cart-based ultrasound, and CT, the other modality procurements were affected until Q3/start of Q4 of 2020.

End-users such as hospitals and diagnostic centres saw elective procedures being put on hold and strict lockdown measures allowed treatment of mostly COVID-19 affected patients. In the GCC, hospitals and healthcare providers witnessed approximately 50-65 per cent footfall loss in radiology departments in 2020.

Current state of global medical imaging informatics market

While developed countries digitalised their imaging workflows long ago, emerging countries started adopting digital technologies after a long gap. Growth saturation in developed markets and the rapid adoption in developing markets, especially in Asia Pacific (APAC) and Middle East, will drive the traditional radiology IT market consisting of RIS and Radiology PACS.

According to Kompalli, currently, the global informatics market is valued at US$8-US$8.5 billion coupled with a healthy CAGR of close to 5-6 per cent range in the next five years.

“Hospitals and health systems across the globe are financially stressed due to relatively lower growth of reimbursements as compared to the operating costs,” he emphasised. “Industry consolidation benefits the unification of operating systems and resources, leading to improvement in margins. However, mergers in the hospital industry give rise to multiple imaging systems that are rarely interoperable, driving the need for a strategy like Enterprise Imaging to achieve efficiency and economies of scale.”

Today, the notion of patient care has undergone substantial change as it transitions from physician-centric to patient-centric, driving the change in systems to gather, collate, and retrieve longitudinal clinical data, including medical images. Informatics solutions such as PACS, VNA, universal viewer, image exchange help achieve higher standards of care.

Furthermore, COVID-19 has pushed imaging departments to operate at skeletal strengths and work remotely to a large extent. Radiology, being a non-patient facing discipline, was one of the prime areas where remote work was possible through setting up a teleradiology workflow from hospitals to radiologists’ home-cum-offices. Though this initially seemed like a temporary shift to teleradiology, the pandemic’s persistence in large parts of the world has created a critical mass for the trend to remain permanent.

“Radiomics, radiogenomics, and related areas are emerging as strong sub-segments within the precision imaging discipline. With radiology and radiologists keen to play a larger and more active role in patient care, radiology is expected to transform from just an imaging interpretation area to one that creates the patient’s entire phenotypic feature,” he added.

Srikanth Kompalli

Impact of AI

During the early days of the pandemic, Teleradiology & Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology solutions were poised to support and act as adjacent front-line on the back of COVID-19 induced imaging volume decline and stay throughput for effective diagnosis measures. According to Kompalli, this trend will continue and take centre stage. “As testing volumes surge across the globe, this solution will help clear the backlog and save radiologists from a burnout-like situation,” he added.

AI in imaging augments workflow optimisations such as faster image analysis and manual image analysis automation that will augment the radiologist shortages in many countries, including the GCC region. This in turn consents strategy measures from hospitals and OEM’s in procuring advanced imaging solutions in the future, which best aids in analytical solutions for improved and quicker diagnosis.

Additionally, embracing AI applications with clinical decision support functionalities is expected to reduce inefficiencies caused by radiology staff shortage and system inadequacies by up to 10-15 per cent per year.

Kompalli concluded: “With undue financial pressure on providers, a healthcare stimulus package will be the key element in procuring equipment that addresses productivity, efficiency, and Total Cost Ownership. Thereby next-gen equipment’s embedding workflow automation, image-sharing, and analytical solutions will boost the workflow by 20-30 per cent, aiding in serving more procedural volumes.”

Key role in diagnosing COVID-19

To a certain extent, at initial stages, ultrasound has helped in early detection of COVID-19, said Kompalli. He explained that point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) depicted B-lines, pleural line irregularities, and variable consolidations. Lung ultrasound findings, however, significantly decreased ICU discharge, suggesting persistent but slow resolution of some COVID-19 lung lesions. Although POCUS identified deep venous thrombosis in less than 20 per cent of patients at the bedside, nearly one-fourth of all patients were found to have computed tomography–proven pulmonary embolism.

References available on request

This article appears in the latest issue of Omnia Health Magazine. Read the full issue online today, covering femtech, AI, IoT and much more.  

Healthcare practitioners need to be confident in the decisions they’re making, and patients need to trust that they’re receiving the best care possible. But that’s only possible if everyone is fully informed about what’s happened up until the point of care. That’s why healthcare systems are intent on providing high-quality services to the communities they serve and making the technology investments needed to follow through.

For example, with a range of healthcare service offerings in Victoria, Australia, Alfred Health understands how important it is to improve communication, coordination, and collaboration across its three hospital campuses, a large network of community programmes and 14 state-wide services. It also appreciates the power of knowledge and data. As such, it is deploying new technology solutions right now that will help accomplish three things:

Related: Omnia Health Magazine April – May 2021

1. Give nurses more time to focus on patient care. They’re asked to tend to a lot of patients – and complete even more paperwork – each day. By minimising the time spent on the latter, they’ll be more available to patients, whether assigned to triage, telehealth, clinical or outpatient duties.

2. Avoid the duplication of patient information in healthcare information systems – and the misreporting of information. Having a single, accurate record to reference is essential to ensuring continuity of patient care and preventing oversights during the transition of care from one facility or provider to the next. It also eliminates the time that care team members must spend trying to get the story straight and then completing burdensome “paperwork” to set the electronic health record (EHR) straight.

Related: The potential for AI in healthcare

3. Ensure patients’ care expectations – and wishes – are met without issue. Patients trust that doctors and nurses will closely supervise their care and make decisions that are in patients’ best interest. So, when mistakes happen, we want to know why. While it can be easy to chalk them up to human error, we shouldn’t dismiss the role that information – or misinformation – plays in care decisions. If a patient is unable to communicate his or her medical history, to include underlying conditions or allergies, then practitioners do the best they can to treat the acute issue. It’s not until an adverse reaction occurs that they realise they were missing a key piece of information. Of course, if they had real-time access to patient records at their fingertips at all times, many incidents could be averted. Thus, the importance of mobile technology at the point of care.

If your healthcare system shares these goals and you’re already using clinical mobile computers, printers, barcode scanners, radio frequency identification (RFID) technologies or real-time location systems (RTLS) solutions in some capacity, you may simply need to scale your solutions to expand their applicability to additional workflows. If paper-based processes are still heavily relied on, we recommend prioritising the implementation of mobility solutions first.

Modernised healthcare systems are likely to include mobile technologies as foundational components

Be sure to update policies and procedures to incorporate these technology tools and then conduct the proper training. Staff will need clear direction on how to thoroughly disinfect all devices (shared or not), how to secure the devices to protect patient privacy, and how to maximise all communication, collaboration and workflow applications.

By looking for ways to increase compliance with either regulatory mandates or internal policies and garner public support for recommended healthcare practices, it’s going to be important to implement technologies in the “3T” category – track, trace and trust – sooner than later. To improve the quality of care provided and build patient trust in the actions taken at the point of care, supply chain, inventory management and asset location capabilities will have to be strengthened. Practitioners and patients need to know that they can get what they need when they need it. They must also be able to verify that the supplies and equipment used, the medical devices implanted, the test results reported, and pharmaceutical components administered have not been compromised in any way.

That’s only possible if healthcare workers and their partners within the healthcare ecosystem have visibility (via sensors, RFID and more) into the handling and storage of all assets at all times (via mobile computers).

Wayne Miller

This article appears in the latest issue of Omnia Health Magazine. Read the full issue online today, covering femtech, AI, IoT and much more.  

The digital revolution has seen various trends emerge to the forefront of importance across all industries, with widespread transformation re-imagining processes and promoting sustainability. In healthcare, today’s ecosystem of connected devices has completely revolutionised the sector, overhauling practices for the better and delivering new-found values to payers and members alike. Looking ahead, there are numerous possibilities with regards to emerging technologies, yet specific areas are also being explored in the present to accelerate progress.

Driven by their aspirations to elevate services, improve customer loyalty, and prevent claims, organisations responsible for handling or paying healthcare bills are now aiming to further leverage the Internet of Things (IoT) to ensure they meet these objectives. In terms of the claims, the main goal previously was to manage or automate applications and negotiate discounts to reduce costs. However, preventing them from happening altogether is now a growing priority with margins becoming extremely limited – and smart devices and wearables have a considerable role to play due to their proven capabilities and increased market penetration.

Related: Omnia Health Magazine April – May 2021

Backed by IoT and next-generation features, these innovations have been universally acknowledged as crucial for understanding lifestyles and assessing the likelihood of illness or injury. Besides gathering precise data, they assess general health, track physical activity, and facilitate engagement through gamification. Notifications are sent to users to encourage exercise and water intake, informing them of progress and offering extra motivation. Ultimately, the end result is a fundamental lifestyle change geared toward increased activity and better health – helping healthcare payers to reduce claims.

The power of IoT is also becoming apparent with other solutions making their mark. For example, the INGO Health smart water bottle was introduced by CME to help people drink adequate amounts of water daily and is now a prominent IoT use case. As an accurate water tracking tool that measures water intake, the solution has solidified itself as a game-changer for health insurance firms. An example of how accurate water readings can help is kidney stones, which is a classic – but in most cases preventable – re-occurring claim.

Related: AI, tele-ophthalmology, and IoT to drive ophthalmic diagnostic and monitoring devices market

On average, 10 per cent of people experience kidney stones problem at some stage, with treatment costing as much as US$3,000 and 50 per cent of these people experience further issues within five years. Moreover, kidney stones have traditionally cost health insurance companies’ significant amounts of money through repeat cases. According to leading healthcare professionals, drinking the right amount of water can reduce and even remove the chances of suffering from kidney stones. Crucially, these organisations have already pointed out that 26 per cent of people who drink enough water can prevent this problem from happening altogether, illustrating the value of IoT solutions like CME’s.

These use cases illustrate the power of IoT and highlight its capabilities to transform the wider healthcare claims segment. As they look ahead, healthcare firms can further instigate a new era of sustainability and drive positive change. For example, they can offer rewards for members who take proactive steps to improve their lifestyle. Such rewards, together with IoT-enabled devices and gamification, can shape countless members’ behaviour and prevent predictable claims.

It’s also noteworthy that IoT can be used as an additional stream of data with other sources, so concerned parties fully understand members’ lifestyles and deliver relevant and competitive services. Moreover, IoT can drive the development of smart machine learning (ML) models to help articulate more accurate risk assessments in the near future. With these considerations in mind, the onus is on healthcare payers to explore the possibilities and potential of IoT without delay and accelerate preventable claims progression and success

Healthcare insurance has needed transformation for years and change has already begun through IoT. Now, the next stage of transformation can be accelerated, with proven use cases and a clear vision for success serving as an inspiration to accomplish objectives in this direction.

Wissam Youssef

This article appears in the latest issue of Omnia Health Magazine. Read the full issue online today, covering femtech, AI, IoT and much more.  

COVID-19 has shown us that technology is no longer an afterthought. Technology needs to be treated at the core of a business to ensure high levels of customer satisfaction and a strong ability to compete. One company that has stood firmly by the healthcare industry with its innovative solutions during these trying times has been Microsoft. The company’s solutions have allowed physicians to overcome geographical limitations, supported them on the front line, and helped share knowledge and expertise cross-borders.

In an interview with Omnia Health Magazine, Haider Salloum, Small Medium and Corporate Lead – Microsoft UAE, discusses technologies such as HoloLens 2 that can remotely connect medical teams and patients alike, as well as discusses the impact of smart technologies on healthcare, and why businesses should be encouraged to be truly engaged in their digital journeys to make an impact. Excerpts:

How can HoloLens 2 empower surgeons? Are there any success stories you could highlight?

Related: Omnia Health Magazine April – May 2021

Firstly, I want to recognise the great work that all doctors, nurses, and frontline workers are carrying out, especially during the pandemic.

When we analyse the broader healthcare industry, we look at what lies beyond biomedical research and healthcare research. Here, we have seen years’ worth of digital transformation in a matter of months. In a past era, much of the digital work that happened in healthcare was at the back end, however, the whole of the healthcare sector is now digitising at pace and even ahead of other industries on the customer-facing side.

Related: How VR and AR are empowering healthcare industry

Today, healthcare providers are adamant that frontline workers should have the same broad access to information, and increasingly employing technology to enhance their work. With digitisation, there is so much available that could make decision making a lot easier, reduce the errors that could happen, and enhance the quality of life.

Over the past 18 months, we have seen a surge of projects carried out with different healthcare providers. Daman, the UAE’s leading national health insurance company has collaborated with Microsoft to deploy the Daman Health Bot, an AI-powered bi-lingual tool that will assist patients to conduct self-assessment on COVID-19 symptoms and guide them to the appropriate level of care.

The result has been greater accessibility of information, broader systems enhancement and providing all frontline workers access to new tools and the ability to consult remotely.

This is where other technologies such as HoloLens 2 can step in, with the power to remotely connect medical teams and patients alike. Crucially, health is also an information business, with certain expertise only available at certain hospitals in another country.

By employing the capabilities of HoloLens 2 we can overcome geographical limitations, supporting people on the front line, and sharing knowledge and expertise cross-borders.

HoloLens 2 provides an enhancement to the surgeon and means that he or she can share and gain advice for a more difficult surgery. Thanks to HoloLens 2 and Dynamics 365 Remote Assist, surgeons will be able to share in real-time their field of view with their peers from other countries and share best practices during the surgeries. Furthermore, thanks to a mixed reality app, surgeons will be able to interact with anatomical images of their patients in holograms projected in real-time in the operating room as well as having access to interactive tutorials during the surgeries.

This approach also saves on travel, with remote capabilities reducing costs for insurance companies, governments, and customers.

What are the key features of Dynamics 365 Remote Assist?

Using Dynamics 365 Remote Assist, doctors wearing HoloLens can hold “hands-free” and “heads-up” Teams video calls with colleagues and experts anywhere in the world. They can receive advice, interacting with the caller and the patient at the same time, while medical notes and X-rays can also be placed alongside the call in the wearer’s field of view.

In times of COVID-19, this technology has a particular role to play, because doctors can take advantage of its hands-free telemedicine capabilities. For example, it can be used while wearing PPE.

Rather than putting users in a fully computer-generated world, as virtual reality does, HoloLens allows users to place 3D digital models in the room alongside them and interact with them using gestures, gaze and voice. This gives doctors all the information they need at the patient’s bedside in real-time, on one headset.

Haider Salloum

What would you say is the impact of technologies such as Virtual Reality, Blockchain and AI on the delivery of healthcare? What role can they play in improving the quality of patient outcomes?

Technologies such as Blockchain, AI and Virtual Reality have a multitude of applications in healthcare, the most important probably related to delivering better and more cost-effective outcomes for patients.

If you take Blockchain as an example, one of the most obvious aspects of this technology is probably in increasing the safety and security of any medical transaction involving sensitive information. With Blockchain being transparent but also private, it has the ability to conceal individual identities, while allowing doctors and healthcare systems to share information quickly and safely, without worrying about the accuracy of the information contained in the chain.

AI can similarly be employed to make the patient journey safer. For example, new AI applications now have the ability to assess scans and detect serious illnesses, helping doctors improve their diagnostics.

The customer journey is powerful and often overlooked in healthcare, but chatbots can answer around 50 per cent of questions, or provide a telemedicine session. Simpler and more streamlined services have the potential to reach more patients more quickly, providing key differentiating points for healthcare providers and allowing them to scale and focus their attention where required most.

What are some of the healthcare technology trends to watch out for in 2021?

The focus is definitely on enhancing the patient journey, high-end automation and integrating the blockchain and healthcare providers with insurance companies. Considerable developments are being carried out in this regard. Empowering frontline workers is also critical: as an example, six months ago many nurses did not even have work-related email addresses, let alone access to complex patient information dashboards. All this is changing now, as care is becoming more streamlined and sophisticated, giving whole medical teams access to critical data.

Doctors increasingly have quick and automatic access to scans available on their computers. Having one central access point when talking to patients, which provides all of this information in real-time, has been a big focus point for many healthcare providers.

The pandemic has made it painfully clear that health transcends every border, impacting every person on the planet. We will continue to empower healthcare advisors, and policymakers with technology and grants to support our front liners.

Through our AI for Health initiative, we have awarded over 150 grants to COVID-19 projects all around the world. Our grantees and partners have shared access to Microsoft’s AI technology, and these resources have accelerated the progress made in their research. With large-scale computing and open data, what used to take months can now be done in a matter of days. In the UAE, Ajman University has become the first institution to be awarded a Microsoft AI for Health Research Grant for a total amount of over one million dirhams.

How committed is Microsoft to the healthcare space?

Healthcare continues to play a vital role in any country’s growth story and this has been demonstrated and accentuated by the pandemic. So there is a great focal commitment on Microsoft’s part to work with different providers.

When the pandemic hit, Microsoft started trial licenses or licences with no cost for a limited period to support organisations in rolling out this infrastructure. We are continuously investing in research, partnering with industry leaders, and empowering healthcare organisations to innovate.

Microsoft is a firm believer in AI as a valuable tool in improving lives, and transforming communities, societies and nations with people at the centre – in ways unimaginable to us. The UAE is already taking strides to succeed in this journey by achieving considerable milestones and embracing AI across every sector. The Ministry of Health & Prevention has adopted Microsoft’s collaboration tools to provide virtual consultation to citizens and residents amidst the recent crisis.

Can you shed some light on Microsoft’s AI for health initiatives and other innovations?

Last year, Microsoft launched a US$ 40 million five-year programme to empower researchers and organisations with AI to improve the health of people and communities around the world. The programme is underpinned by a strong foundation of privacy, security and ethics, and was developed in collaboration with leading health experts who are driving important medical initiatives.

The AI for Health initiative will focus on three key areas- Quest for discovery – Accelerating medical research to advance prevention, diagnoses, and treatment of diseases; Global health insights – increasing our shared understanding of mortality and longevity to protect against global health crises; Health equity – Reducing health inequity and improving access to care for underserved populations. AI for Health is a philanthropic initiative that complements our broader work in Microsoft Healthcare.

AI for Health leverages the explosion in data and with so much new data, we can make the most of the information that we collect, such as tracking vaccinations. With the ongoing pandemic, Data has been a critical factor to address and identify challenges in the crisis. Innovations like AI and Big Data come into the picture and can identify trends, machine learning can create projections and AI can conduct forecasting.

I would like to encourage healthcare providers, whether they are big or small to utilise technology. From small clinics in Jumeirah to large hospitals in Healthcare City to chains of hospitals across the Emirates and different countries – digital transformation has something to offer to all of them. Today, every company across any sector is a digital company. Hence, any size or scale of business should think digital-first as their core strategy. Our mission is to empower every individual and organisation on the planet to achieve more. This mission is aligned with hospitals and healthcare providers that are on their transformation journey.

This article appears in the latest issue of Omnia Health Magazine. Read the full issue online today, covering femtech, AI, IoT and much more.