Timo Thranberend

AppQ

AppQ: improving quality transparency in health apps with a core set of quality criteria

Which health app is right for me? Which offering is reliable? What distinguishes the various applications on the market from each other? Together with our Weisse Liste colleagues, we’re working on an online platform that will provide answers to these questions. Our goal is to create transparency in the growing field of digital health applications for citizens and to offer providers of good apps the opportunity to raise awareness of their commitment to quality. As part of this project and with the support of the Federal Ministry of Health, we’re developing a core set of quality criteria for health apps that can be applied through a web application. This blog post is an introduction to this project titled “AppQ.”

19.03.2019

Dr. Johannes Bittner, Timo Thranberend

#SmartHealthSystems

Learning from other countries: How is digitization in healthcare progressing across the globe? – Comparative international study launched

A frequently heard assessment of Germany’s healthcare system is that it continues to lag notably behind other countries in terms of digitization. But in which areas, exactly, does it lag behind the most? What strategies are other countries pursuing? What can we learn from the experiences of those countries? In the coming months, our goal is to undertake a comparative international study that provides insights into exactly what characterizes a successful national digitization strategy. We are therefore targeting an analysis of the framework conditions, major advancements and success factors in 17 different healthcare systems. Our basic thesis going in to this analysis is that fully leveraging digitization’s potential in the realm of healthcare involves developing a tenable national strategy with long-term objectives that features a clear vision and is advocated by political leadership – regardless of a country’s size or political system.

14.03.2018

Dr. Thomas Kostera, Timo Thranberend

National Health Portal

10 theses on plans for a National Health Portal

Increasingly, the internet is the place to go to for health information. One in 20 searches on Google is related to health. More than half of German internet users look for information online about illnesses and treatments at least once a year. However, if the common assumption is to be believed, they usually fail to find what they are looking for in the jungle of information and succeed only in becoming needlessly confused. Or they are confronted with factually inaccurate or misleading information. One proposed solution to this problem is the establishment of a National Health Portal. The German Federal Ministry of Health (BMG) has commissioned the Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (IQWiG) to develop a concept for such a portal by the beginning of 2018. Does this idea hold up to scrutiny? Because we would like to offer both constructive and critical input to the German government’s efforts, and after frequent requests for our own opinion in past months, this blog post gathers together our current thoughts on a National Health Portal –in ten theses.

15.01.2018

Uwe Schwenk, Timo Thranberend, Marion Grote Westrick

Digital Transformation in Health Care

What does the “digital patient” expect from his or her physician? An appraisal of the patient’s role in digital transformation

What does the “digital patient” expect from his or her physician? How can physicians respond to these expectations? Do people suffering illness really want to to determine their course of action with the help of digital media or is the oft-cited concept of “patient sovereignty” merely an abstraction that has emerged from the discourse on digitalization? The editorial staff at x.press, a magazine for office-based physicians in Germany, has taken our project name to heart and asked us what we think about the role of the patient in digital transformation. Below, we offer the full transcript of the interview. Our key takeaway: Patients want to be treated well and have a say in their treatment. If there is a technology available that can help in this sense, they expect their physician to use it. And those who readily use digital forms of communication in other parts of their life do not want to have to go in person to the doctor’s office for everything.

28.09.2017

Timo Thranberend

shutterstock / Khakimulin Alesandr

Electronic Health Records

Electronic health records: A central basis for (digital) treatment management

The discussion on the introduction of electronic health records (EHRs) in Germany is in full swing. The Bertelsmann Stiftung aims to add impetus to this debate with an expert report by Professor Peter Haas. Of particular importance here is the conceptual idea of the EHR as a basis for comprehensive treatment management platforms. These EHRs will serve both as a common instrument of service providers and patients, as well as a central instrumental foundation – a hub – for digital process innovation in the healthcare sector. In introducing these records, this mission should be pursued from the very outset

05.05.2017

Timo Thranberend

Blog launched: Spotlight on digital health

What relevance do healthcare apps have for healthcare? Is big data revolutionizing medicine? Is “Dr. Google” replacing our physicians? Stakeholders throughout the system agree that digitization is changing healthcare. Yet there are very different views and opinions regarding the opportunities and limits of digital transformation. With its “Digital Patient” project, the Bertelsmann Stiftung aims to […]

07.07.2016

Dr. Johannes Bittner, Timo Thranberend

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AppQ: improving quality transparency in health apps with a core set of quality criteria

Learning from other countries: How is digitization in healthcare progressing across the globe? – Comparative international study launched

10 theses on plans for a National Health Portal

What does the “digital patient” expect from his or her physician? An appraisal of the patient’s role in digital transformation

Electronic health records: A central basis for (digital) treatment management

Blog launched: Spotlight on digital health

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