In what the companies call “a move to accelerate the transformation of the healthcare industry,” Royal Philips and salesforce.com have announced a strategic alliance to deliver an open, cloud-based healthcare platform. Patient relationship management will be at the center of the new platform, allowing caregivers to collaborate closely in support of their patients. The new platform will be designed to enable medical device and data interoperability.
The collaboration has already resulted in two clinical applications to be launched on the new platform later this summer: “Philips eCareCoordinator” and “Philips eCareCompanion.” These applications will allow care teams to monitor patients with chronic conditions in their homes and will facilitate Philips’ Hospital to Home clinical programs.
“With this strategic alliance, Philips is making great strides to deliver real-time, digital healthcare solutions,” Frans van Houten, CEO of Royal Philips, said in a press release. “Healthcare data exists in many different forms and in many different systems today. Together with salesforce.com, we have a tremendous opportunity to reshape and optimize the way healthcare is delivered and provide better access to data across the continuum of care.”
Philips and salesforce.com envision that apps will cover the continuum of care: from self care and prevention, to diagnosis and treatment through recovery and wellness. The envisioned platform, based on the Salesforce1 Platform, will enable collaboration and workflow, as well as integration of data from multiple sources worldwide. Those sources will include electronic medical records, diagnostic and treatment information obtained through Philips’ imaging equipment, monitoring equipment, personal devices, and technologies like Apple’s HealthKit.
According to the companies, the cloud-based platform is designed to be highly scalable with built-in privacy and data security. By combining the data, the platform will allow for analysis that will enhance decision-making by professionals and engage patients. It is intended to be open to developers and is therefore hoped to result in many applications from developers. If it does, say the companies, the envisioned platform has the potential to transform both professional healthcare delivery and continuous personal health management.
