Worldwide healthcare costs are on the rise due in part to ageing and growing populations. There is also an increasing number of people with chronic diseases, a healthcare focus on care quality and value, more informed and empowered patients, as well as new and innovative treatments and technologies adding to these costs.
However, the pressure to reduce costs, increase efficiency, and demonstrate value will continue to grow as governmental budgetary constraints affect households and healthcare spending as a percentage of GDP continues to rise.
One way national health services can be more efficient and save money is by reducing hospital readmissions. In the UK, for example, the total annual number of readmissions to any non-specialist NHS Trust increased by 33.7%, from 338,277 readmissions in 2006/07 to 452,546 readmissions in 2015/16.
In addition, an excess bed day in the NHS costs between £2,089 and £2,532 a week for non-elective and elective inpatients, respectively.
According to the UK’s healthwatch, between 2012/13 and 2016/17:
- The number of emergency readmissions rose by 22.8%, from 372,805 to 457,880
- The number of emergency readmissions within 24 hours of discharge rose by 29.2%, from 49,529 to 63,964
- The number of readmissions within 48 hours rose by 27%, from 77,927 to 98,955
- Readmissions within 48 hours account for more than 1 in 5 (21.61%) of the total
Research shows that adverse medication events are responsible for more than 88 percent of emergency hospital admissions among elderly patients, two-thirds of which are readmissions. Utilising new technologies to facilitate better medication management can be crucial to avoiding readmissions. The best technologies are ones that enable two-way communication and quicker response rates to patient needs.
Deploying Curaizon’s medicine adherence technologies can aid national health services around the world to reduce readmissions caused by medicinal issues. Doctors and other care providers can use these technologies to view a patient’s adherence levels and drug efficacy as well as update electronic medical records in real-time, providing the foresight to proactively treat the patient before hospitalization is required.
These technologies are also used to remind patients when to take their medications thus reducing non-adherence and alerting caregivers when medicines have not been taken.
Curaizon is offering potential stakeholders the opportunity to buy into its technologies via its blockchain initial coin offering (ICO). The tokens, referred to as CuraTokens (CTKN), allow holders to access the unique data via their CuraData platform. There is no other way to access these datasets, and everything is posted on the blockchain in real-time.
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