Second day of the Effective Medical Assessment Conference: Key highlights and takeaways

The last day of the Effective Medical Assessment Conference (EMAC) was dedicated to the latest technological perspectives in healthcare. The consensus among the speakers was that the current situation in healthcare faces many challenges, but that there are also many inspiring solutions.   

The conference was again opened by Jakob Šušterič, CEO and co-founder of MESI Medical. He discussed two rising opportunities in healthcare: life-long customer loyalty and predictive medical assessment. In the next 5 years, the current MESI customer lifetime value of 17,000 EUR will be increased to 40,000 EUR; this will be due to more diagnostic modules and third-party apps added to the MESI mTABLET. These and other upgrades aim to create lifetime value for the customer because they will need no additional devices. For successful predictive medical assessment (i.e. making medical predictions on the basis of the patient’s history and other patients’ data), high-quality diagnostic data in big quantities is necessary. MESI customers already perform more than 40,000 measurements a month. The plan to grow from 15,000 to 100,000 customers in the next five years will get the AI phase firmly underway.   

Timotej Vitez, Key Account Manager at MESI Medical, explained the lifetime value of the MESI mTABLET in detail. The key factor in creating lifetime value of a product is in extending its life cycle. The key is not to let the life cycle end, or to recycle by keeping what is still useful and creating a new product, but to “upcycle” the device with constant new diagnostic modules and third-party apps. Many customers select an initial MESI mTABLET module combination based on the nature of their work (GPs, cardiovascular specialists…), but 74% of them eventually decide to upgrade the system with more features. There is also a replacement offered every few years, in which the old tablet is exchanged for a new one. With the brand new hardware and fully upgraded software, life cycle actually starts all over again.  

Sebastian Winkler, PhD, Head of MESI Germany, presented the potential of the MESI mTABLET in nursing homes. Nursing homes house one of the most vulnerable parts of the population. There are currently 3.4 million nursing home residents Europe-wide, and cases when their health situation becomes unclear are quite frequent. Introduction of a systematic, easy-to-use solution like the MESI mTABLET, which enables all-round diagnostics, would make a big difference. Avoiding unnecessary hospitalisations would save a lot of time and visits for the nursing home staff and GPs, as well as a lot of money to the nursing homes and health insurance companies. Most importantly, the care and quality of life of the residents would be improved. The total market potential of 200+ mio justifies effort – and optimism. 

Rudi Čebulj, Head of Distribution Sales at MESI Medical, discussed the scaling success of the example of the MESI mTABLET, which is now present at more than 50 countries worldwide. This is not accidental as its points of distinction are quite a few. The lecturer pointed out the unified user experience in diagnostic procedures; one single storing system (MESI mRECORDS); the use of one device for all the measurements; an instant SHARE function; and the Protocol App to make the workflow more effective. All this ensures that the patient is treated on time and that more patients can be seen due to less workload. With the upcoming features like AI predictive medical assessment, the medical practices will be even more supported in saving lives, and become voices of future healthcare.  

Experience with the MESI mTABLET in different countries was shared at the roundtable on MESI mTABLET good practice, moderated by Petra Balažic. It featured Carl Jans from Barthels in Belgium, Saager Kalloe from Henry Schein in the Netherlands, Piia Reijonen from Steripolar in Finland, and Glen Charles from EBOS in Australia. There are a lot of business opportunities in Finland, especially with ABI. In Belgium, there is lots of interest in the MESI mTABLET at fairs, which means that the product is already well-established. MESI Medical products are also making a name for themselves in the Netherlands. Two years ago, they first entered Australia, which quickly grew into one of the biggest markets. According to Glen Charles, this is not only because of the benefits for the doctors, nurses and patients, but also due to top-notch MESI Medical support. 

The aim of digital solutions is to reduce the workload of the medical professional. Blaž Bulić, Senior Support Agent at Mesi Medical, presented seamless medical data storage with the MESI mTABLET. Going digital means that the results can be shared instantly, that the reports can be accessed wherever you are, and that the reports are stored automatically. There are different integration options, from more basic to fully custom. In this, worklists can also be integrated for easy appointment management. No matter what solution is used, however, digital data storage always reduces the number of the steps required as opposed to the traditional practice workflow.

Nejc Ludvik, Head of Quality and Regulations at MESI Medical, presented quality assurance in medical development and manufacturing. One of the most important things at MESI Medical is compliance with all the regulatory and specialised medical requirements. Standard certification is essential, and it can take just as long as the product creation itself. A major achievement this year has been the acquisition of the ISO 13485:2016/MDSAP certification – the highest quality regulatory standard in the medical device manufacturing industry. Quality assurance is an important part of each stage of our products’ life – from the product development, marketing authorisation and manufacturing to the aftersales activities.

The final part of the conference was practical in nature. The live MESI mTABLET measurement session gave the viewers the chance to see different measurement processes first-hand. Petra Balažic, Brand Manager at MESI Medical, provided practical guidance on the use of the various MESI mTABLET diagnostic features.

Although the conference is now behind us, we hope that this is just the end of the beginning. We hope to meet you many times again, and to create new ventures, new partnerships and new success together. If not sooner … see you next year!