Patients Know Best (PKB), the world’s only fully patient controlled medical records system is today collaborating with Oxford University’s George Institute for Global Health on a research trial studying how home monitoring tools can support heart failure patients.
The Oxford University’s Healthcare Innovation and Evaluation unit of the George Institute for Global Health is led by Prof. Kazem Rahimi and is one of the leading research centres in the area of integrated digital health worldwide.
The SUPPORT-HF research programme aims to develop and evaluate an integrated third generation home monitoring system for management of patients with heart failure in the UK. The first phase of the programme has successfully completed the development of a home monitoring system that is easy to use and well accepted by patients independently of their digital literacy.
In the second phase, the home-monitoring (HM) system is continuously being improved and assessed in an initial randomized controlled trial of about 200 to 350 patients. In that context, the team of researchers at Oxford University have started a pilot collaboration with Patients Know Best to test their ability to extract patients’ medical histories from hospital electronic health records. Combined with the daily measurements (such as blood pressure, weight and symptoms) collected through the SUPPORT-HF HM system, this comprehensive patient profile will help the study’s specialist cardiology team to tailor and improve patients’ medical management. Ultimately the SUPPORT-HF programme aims to assess whether the developed home monitoring system improves the quality of life of patients living with heart failure and reduces unscheduled hospital admissions and avoidable death.
Prof. Kazem Rahimi, Associate Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine at the University of Oxford, said:
The wider aims of the project are all about understanding patients’ well being to deliver better care – reducing mortality and improving quality of life. The first stage showed that home management tools can be of real benefit to heart failure patients. For the second phase, we want to leverage Patients Know Best’s technology to fully understand the value of an integrated electronic health record approach to remote healthcare management.
Dr Mohammad Al-Ubaydli, founder and CEO of Patients Know Best said:
Prof. Rahimi’s research brings together amazing remote monitoring devices and central decision support. We are proud that for this next phase of the research, PKB is a data integration platform for patients’ hospital electronic health records and makes that data available via the PKB API. This will allow building better algorithms and better interventions for patients.
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About Patients Know Best
Patients Know Best is the world’s first fully patient-controlled online medical records system and a multi-award winning tool to help patients better manage their care. Patients Know Best is fully secure and enables patients to better organise, manage and control their own health care provision – it also saves the time of physicians through allowing secure, online consultations. Patients Know Best’s first customers include Great Ormond Street Hospital, St Mark’s Hospital and NHS South Devon. Patients Know Best integrates fully into the NHS secure network and is available for use by any patient with any clinician anywhere in the world. It is now used by over 60 hospitals across seven countries and complies fully with UK NHS information governance requirements as well as the EU data protection act and US HIPAA legislation for dealing with medical data. www.patientsknowbest.com
In May 2015, Patients Know Best won the ‘Champion’ award at the eHealth Competition, a Europe-wide, European Commission-backed Prize. Patients Know Best is also one of 17 companies chosen for NHS England’s Digital Health Accelerator Programme.
About the George Institute for Global Health
The George Institute for Global Health is an independent medical research institute dedicated to improving global health. The George Institute conducts high impact research that targets preventable illnesses and injuries that are the leading causes of death and disability worldwide, including heart and kidney disease, stroke, diabetes and injury. It is ranked in the top 10 research institutions in the world for research impact by the SCImago Institutions Rankings World Reports. The George Institute conducts research in more than 50 countries, with bases in Australia, China, India and the UK. The Institute’s global network conducts research that provides healthcare solutions for hospitals, clinics and medical facilities serving millions of people around the world.
Contact
For Patients Know Best:
Chris Smith, Swarm Communications
+44 (0) 7989 321 743
chris@swarmcommunications.com
For The George Institute for Global Health:
Premjith Cheruvath
Research Facilitator
The George Institute for Global Health
Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford
34 Broad Street | Oxford OX1 3BD | United Kingdom
premjith.cheruvath@georgeinstitute.ox.ac.uk
T: +44(0)1865 617 210
F: +44(0)1865 617 202