It is often said that "the times make heroes". After the epidemic, the concept of Internet medicine has developed at an unprecedented speed and contributed to the fight against the epidemic. "Digital medicine" has also become a social hotspot. Data elements are becoming an important asset and the "oil" of the digital era. Digitalization is constantly subverting the traditional medical and health system. Medical device enterprises need to keep up with the pace of change in order to take the lead in the changing market environment.
What is the concept of digital medicine? The answer given by Baidu is that digital medicine is a new modern medical method that applies modern computer technology and information technology to the whole medical process, and it is the development direction and management goal of public health. The emergence of digital medical equipment has greatly enriched the connotation and capacity of medical information. From the visualization of one-dimensional information, such as ECG, EEG and other important electrophysiological information; To two-dimensional information, such as medical image information such as CT, MRI, color ultrasound, digital X-ray machine (DR); Furthermore, 3D visualization can even obtain four-dimensional information, such as real-time dynamic display of 3D heart. This information greatly enriches doctors' diagnostic technology and makes medicine enter a new visual information age.
Ministry of Science and Technology: set up the pilot project of "digital diagnosis and treatment equipment research and development"
Since 2015, the Ministry of Science and Technology has launched the special application for the pilot project of "digital diagnosis and treatment equipment research and development" and achieved success. Since then, the key project of "digital diagnosis and treatment equipment research and development" has been listed as one of the first six pilot projects to be launched and officially entered the implementation stage. These special pilot projects are more inclined to focus on early diagnosis, accurate diagnosis, minimally invasive treatment, and precise treatment, focusing on ten major strategic products, such as multimodal molecular imaging, large-scale radiotherapy equipment, systematically strengthen core components and key technologies, accelerate the integration of innovation chain and industrial chain in China's medical device field, and promote China's digital diagnosis and treatment equipment to enter the international advanced ranks as a whole.
The "R&D of digital diagnosis and treatment equipment" project has set four tasks, including cutting-edge and common technology innovation, major equipment R&D, application solution research, application demonstration and evaluation research, and 20 key directions. Seven major medical equipment companies and 20 key products may be the first to benefit from the so-called digital diagnosis and treatment equipment. These equipment refer to high-end high-value medical equipment such as CT, MRI, color ultrasound, and digital X-ray machine (DR) that can deliver medical image information to doctors.
We know that medical equipment is affected by policies, and after the successful declaration this time, seven medical equipment companies, namely Yuyue Medical, Hokai, Lipon Instruments, Neusoft Group, China Resources Wandong, Dirui Medical and Dongfulong, take the lead in benefiting from it relying on their own R&D and innovation strength, diversified M&A ideas and global marketing channels. In addition, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the People's Republic of China also released the "Made in China 2025" Key Field Technology Roadmap (2015 Edition) "(also known as the" green book "because the cover is green), which clarifies ten major fields including high-performance medical devices and 23 key development directions. Digital medical devices also belong to high-performance medical devices. We have selected the following 20 key products:
At present, many domestic and foreign enterprises that take the lead in adopting digital technology have realized that only by changing the existing processes, more convenient ways and visual and transparent operations can they provide better services for patients, doctors and payers. Cooperation and acquisition have become two mainstream trends when enterprises deploy digital medical or technology solutions.
Cooperation cases
Use online tumor treatment and process management tools to strengthen patient management and doctor communication
In order to optimize the workflow, Roche Diagnostics and GE Healthcare jointly launched the innovative NAVIFY Tumor Board tumor multidisciplinary consultation platform, which is an online solution and promotes personalized tumor treatment. The platform combines medical imaging, patient data and clinical decision support applications to help multidisciplinary teams understand each patient more comprehensively, achieve efficient and intelligent decision-making, and provide better treatment solutions for cancer patients.
As the first shared integrated diagnostic platform in the industry, this cooperation provides an ecosystem containing application and workflow management solutions. The two enterprises involved in the cooperation are committed to seamless integration, and analyze the comprehensive data of laboratory and medical imaging, patient cases, best medical practices, real world real-time monitoring and the latest research results. The purpose of the platform is to enhance the confidence of clinicians, so as to make the best treatment decisions for each patient. The platform has been launched in Asia Pacific countries and will be launched in Singapore in April 2019. This platform is a model for medical device enterprises to use digital tools to optimize hospital workflow and improve patient outcomes.
Acquisition case
Establish an integrated digital surgical platform covering the whole treatment cycle
Smith&Nephew acquired Brainlab orthopaedic joint reconstruction digital surgery technology. After the acquisition, Smith&Nephew can use various technologies of Brainlab, including cloud computing, digital tracking, augmented reality, robotics, artificial intelligence, machine learning, image fusion and dissection. The integration of these technologies will form a powerful digital ecosystem, incubate groundbreaking clinical solutions, and further consolidate Smith&Nephew's robot technology.
Practical application scenarios of digital medicine
As a doctor, Fan Lihong, secretary of the Party Committee of the 10th People's Hospital of Shanghai, said that now, with AI technology, I can easily tell patients about the distribution and size of pulmonary nodules, which helps improve diagnosis and treatment, but also helps patients understand their condition better. He also said that in the face of the wave of digital change, public general hospitals are actively seeking change, and strive to "dismantle" the "wall" of medical services for the majority of patients through digital medical technology.
In Fan Lihong's view, in the future, patients may realize self-service medical services through digital means: arrange relevant examinations as needed. In its vision of digital medicine, intelligent medical equipment and telemedicine equipment can also eliminate medical "walls" such as "time", "distance" and "environment", helping to realize the strategy of a healthy China.
Dr. Hu Jialu, from the Cardiovascular Department of Zhongshan Hospital affiliated to Fudan University, is the director of the Internet online diagnosis and treatment (E-heart clinic) of the cardiology department of the hospital. According to Hu Jialu, by building a medical and health service platform of "Internet plus Cardiovascular Disease", "e-Heart Clinic" helped thousands of hypertensive patients to establish complete online health records, and at the same time cooperated with various departments to carry out full cycle management for patients; The follow-up system for heart specific diseases built on the basis of "e-Heart Clinic" brings convenience to patients and is highly favored.
In the first quarter of 2021, digital medicine will lead the frontier progress in biomedical and interdisciplinary fields. The financing and investment in the first quarter will reach 15.3 billion US dollars, more than half of the total financing last year. As an interdisciplinary scientific innovation field, five years ago, no one really knew what this field was or how to define it. Today, digital health and digital medicine have been widely studied and applied. Without the catalysis of epidemic, digital health and digital medicine may require at least a decade of long development, rather than a volcanic eruption today.