Challenge
People living with chronic heart failure (CHF) often have to deal with disconnected and complicated care systems. Transitions between hospitals, general practitioners, and at-home care are often uncoordinated, which can lead to poor health outcomes and frustration for both patients and healthcare providers. There’s a clear need for smarter, more joined-up care that gives patients the support they need and helps healthcare professionals work together more effectively.
Solutions
INCAREHEART is a Europe-wide project that’s taking a big step toward solving this problem. It brings together public healthcare buyers from Sweden, Italy, Greece, Portugal, and Turkey, supported by three expert organizations: Empirica, Ticbiomed, and the International Foundation for Integrated Care. The project aims on smart digital systems that help hospitals, doctors, and caregivers share information and work as a team, as well as better patient tools that let people access their health records from any device and talk to their care teams when they need to. Incareheart is structured as a Pre-Commercial Procurement (PCP), which means it’s not buying finished products, but investing in the research and development of the right solution through a competitive process with multiple phases, starting with gathering market ideas, testing prototypes with users, and finally trying out the best solution with 500 patients and 125 healthcare professionals.
Results
Incareheart aims to transform the way care is delivered to people with chronic heart failure. With smarter, digital tools, it makes communication between healthcare providers smoother and puts patients in greater control of their health. As a result, patients end up with better experiences, fewer hospital visits, and care that truly meets their needs. Because the solution is flexible and modular, it can be adapted to different countries and healthcare systems, making it easier to scale up across Europe. Ultimately, the project hopes to improve quality of life for thousands of people while helping health systems run more efficiently and cost-effectively.