Periodic Reporting for period 3 - MedEye (Accelerated market launch of MedEye, a plug-and-play medication safety solution)
Periodo di rendicontazione: 2019-08-01 al 2020-06-30
Medication errors are the single biggest source of harm in modern healthcare. Unfortunately, up to 20% of medication is incorrectly administered. Mistakes include the wrong medication, wrong dose, wrong time, wrong route, and even the wrong patient. Such errors can cause adverse drug reactions, lengthen hospital stays, and in the most severe cases lead to increased mortality. This poses a significant risk to the EU population.
Mint Solutions developed a turn-key system that offers an answer to this problem. MedEye scans medication at the bedside and verifies whether the correct medication is being administered. By integrating with a hospitals information system (HIS) and synchronizing with a patient’s electronic medical record (EMR), MedEye improves patient safety and reduces costs by making sure patients only get the right medication at the right time.
At the project start MedEye had been validated in independent pilots performed at three hospitals in The Netherlands (NL), showing that MedEye significantly reduced medication administration errors. In the meantime MedEye is rolled out in 8 NL hospitals, several Long Term Care facilities (LTCs) in NL and several contracts outside NL are under negotiation. The current project aims to overcome the last main hurdles towards further implementation of the Medeye on the European (EU) market:
• Firstly, hospitals and nursing homes use HIS systems for medication management. To gain access to a larger market, MedEye needs to be integrated with more HIS providers (WP2).
• Secondly, to convince end-users in EU hospitals and LTCs, MedEye needs to be convincingly demonstrated in more countries outside of NL that have different infrastructures and regulations (WP3,4).
To overcome these main hurdles and push MedEye further into EU hospitals and LTCs, the following key objectives are performed in this 3,5-year project:
Technical objectives:
• Perform software development for integration of MedEye with the largest HIS providers (WP2).
• Perform software development to enable a distributor-based business model.
Business objectives:
• Perform a proof of performance pilot in a UK hospital (WP3).
• Perform a proof of performance pilot in a Belgian (BE) LTC facility (WP4).
• Compose a comprehensive commercialization strategy for a EU-wide launch (WP5).
Mint Solutions developed a turn-key system that offers an answer to this problem. MedEye scans medication at the bedside and verifies whether the correct medication is being administered. By integrating with a hospitals information system (HIS) and synchronizing with a patient’s electronic medical record (EMR), MedEye improves patient safety and reduces costs by making sure patients only get the right medication at the right time.
At the project start MedEye had been validated in independent pilots performed at three hospitals in The Netherlands (NL), showing that MedEye significantly reduced medication administration errors. In the meantime MedEye is rolled out in 8 NL hospitals, several Long Term Care facilities (LTCs) in NL and several contracts outside NL are under negotiation. The current project aims to overcome the last main hurdles towards further implementation of the Medeye on the European (EU) market:
• Firstly, hospitals and nursing homes use HIS systems for medication management. To gain access to a larger market, MedEye needs to be integrated with more HIS providers (WP2).
• Secondly, to convince end-users in EU hospitals and LTCs, MedEye needs to be convincingly demonstrated in more countries outside of NL that have different infrastructures and regulations (WP3,4).
To overcome these main hurdles and push MedEye further into EU hospitals and LTCs, the following key objectives are performed in this 3,5-year project:
Technical objectives:
• Perform software development for integration of MedEye with the largest HIS providers (WP2).
• Perform software development to enable a distributor-based business model.
Business objectives:
• Perform a proof of performance pilot in a UK hospital (WP3).
• Perform a proof of performance pilot in a Belgian (BE) LTC facility (WP4).
• Compose a comprehensive commercialization strategy for a EU-wide launch (WP5).
WP2: New versions of MedEye were released including Medication Service, which enables MedEye to work with different medication code systems and build a medication database. The user interface has been updated to improve the user friendliness and make sure all data management meets GDPR guidelines. Furthermore, the medication library is updated extensively including the connected EAN barcodes. The MedEye system has been integrated with multiple HIS systems, which number is constantly increasing. For the implementation in a UK hospital, the MedEye software had to be integrated into the local HIS. This turned out more difficult than anticipated resulting in the incorporation of JASEHealth to implement MedEye into the HIS at NUTH.
WP3: The pilot study at NUTH is performed. MedEye was implemented on one ward and data before and after were gathered. Ethical approval has been granted. Extensive testing was conducted at NUTH between Feb-July 2019. This involved testing of the user interface, medication mapping and integration. Issues were recorded and where possible resolved by the Hospital IT team, MINT and/or JASEHealth. The first nurses began testing MedEye in the Live Cerner environment in August 2019. The process of optimising the software has taken longer than originally anticipated. The rollout of the “Global Digital Exemplar (GDE)-progamme” of the NHS, has postponed the MedEye implementation. And the Covid-19 pandemic has limited the time we could survey on the ward. As a result the amount of gathered data was less than originally planned. But still sufficient to report good results.
WP4: Medeye was successfully implemented in 9 LTC facilities (69 devices). Baseline-measurements were performed to assess the medication and administration workflow at LTC facilities. More than 500 nurses were trained and added as users to the Medeye system and are now able to use Medeye in their day-to-day work. The pilot studies have been completed. Preliminary results indicate that MedEye improves identification and prevention of administration errors and that workflow efficiency with MedEye technology rapidly improves over time. Two psychiatric institutions have signed a contract with MedEye too. Rollout is from beginning of October 2019 onwards.
WP5: The commercialization strategy is constantly updated. After the successful implemention at Interzorg, the Medeye system has been implemented at a second LTC organization in NL: Present. With this implementation, MedEye is now integrated in the most widely spread medication management system in LTC organizations in NL. Because of the success of each LTC installation in NL and BE, MINT expects to be able to make concrete steps and expand the client portfolio within the next 12 months. A market research has been performed for EU-markets, Canada, USA and Australia. The market study results are submitted in deliverable D12. A commercialization strategy is worked out and submitted in deliverable D13. One of the results is an extensive business case calculator and comparator to competition for MedEye, based on own experience from pilots and installations, as well as research done in the area of barcode bedside verification.
WP6: Dissemination and communication activities are done on a diversity of platforms to reach all stakeholders (general public, end-users, decision makers, KOLs). Activities include (social) media coverage towards the general public (including an article in the NL national newspaper Telegraaf with reader coverage over 1 million), presentations at conferences, end-user trainings and a webinar. The dissemination and communication strategy is continuously updated. Activities are spreaded across the EU countries after the results of the pilot studies in BE and UK came available.
WP3: The pilot study at NUTH is performed. MedEye was implemented on one ward and data before and after were gathered. Ethical approval has been granted. Extensive testing was conducted at NUTH between Feb-July 2019. This involved testing of the user interface, medication mapping and integration. Issues were recorded and where possible resolved by the Hospital IT team, MINT and/or JASEHealth. The first nurses began testing MedEye in the Live Cerner environment in August 2019. The process of optimising the software has taken longer than originally anticipated. The rollout of the “Global Digital Exemplar (GDE)-progamme” of the NHS, has postponed the MedEye implementation. And the Covid-19 pandemic has limited the time we could survey on the ward. As a result the amount of gathered data was less than originally planned. But still sufficient to report good results.
WP4: Medeye was successfully implemented in 9 LTC facilities (69 devices). Baseline-measurements were performed to assess the medication and administration workflow at LTC facilities. More than 500 nurses were trained and added as users to the Medeye system and are now able to use Medeye in their day-to-day work. The pilot studies have been completed. Preliminary results indicate that MedEye improves identification and prevention of administration errors and that workflow efficiency with MedEye technology rapidly improves over time. Two psychiatric institutions have signed a contract with MedEye too. Rollout is from beginning of October 2019 onwards.
WP5: The commercialization strategy is constantly updated. After the successful implemention at Interzorg, the Medeye system has been implemented at a second LTC organization in NL: Present. With this implementation, MedEye is now integrated in the most widely spread medication management system in LTC organizations in NL. Because of the success of each LTC installation in NL and BE, MINT expects to be able to make concrete steps and expand the client portfolio within the next 12 months. A market research has been performed for EU-markets, Canada, USA and Australia. The market study results are submitted in deliverable D12. A commercialization strategy is worked out and submitted in deliverable D13. One of the results is an extensive business case calculator and comparator to competition for MedEye, based on own experience from pilots and installations, as well as research done in the area of barcode bedside verification.
WP6: Dissemination and communication activities are done on a diversity of platforms to reach all stakeholders (general public, end-users, decision makers, KOLs). Activities include (social) media coverage towards the general public (including an article in the NL national newspaper Telegraaf with reader coverage over 1 million), presentations at conferences, end-user trainings and a webinar. The dissemination and communication strategy is continuously updated. Activities are spreaded across the EU countries after the results of the pilot studies in BE and UK came available.
The integration of Medeye with additional HIS providers have continued and the medication database is continuously updated. The proof of concept study in a UK hospital has provided valuable information for future implementation of Medeye in EU hospitals. The results of the pilot studies in BE LTCs were very positive. Data analysis has provided insight to provide Medeye to LTCs across EU, a process that is already ongoing. First measure of success are the implementations at LTC organisations in NL and two psychiatric prisons in BE and a signed reseller agreement in North America.
Potential impact
Providing patients with the correct medication is a complex task with many error-prone steps. The sequence of events, from prescription by a doctor to administration by a nurse, is a value chain. MedEye provides significant improvements and value at multiple points along this chain but with a strong focus on the final step where most errors are made: right before medication is administered to the patient. With this funding from Horizon, the consortium was able to perform the necessary developments to access the EU market faster and increase market take-up. Ultimately providing increased medication safety towards patients.
Potential impact
Providing patients with the correct medication is a complex task with many error-prone steps. The sequence of events, from prescription by a doctor to administration by a nurse, is a value chain. MedEye provides significant improvements and value at multiple points along this chain but with a strong focus on the final step where most errors are made: right before medication is administered to the patient. With this funding from Horizon, the consortium was able to perform the necessary developments to access the EU market faster and increase market take-up. Ultimately providing increased medication safety towards patients.