Smart ideas for better healthcare
The digitalisation is presenting a lot of opportunities for new business models – also in healthcare: a digital dermatologist, AI for intensive care or fighting phantom pains with your tablet – we present to you three cool start-ups in the healthcare sector.
In 2020, more start-ups were founded in the field of digital health than ever before: this is one finding among many of the “Digital Health Start-up Survey for NRW” conducted by digihub Düsseldorf/Rheinland in cooperation with AOK Rheinland/Hamburg under the patronage of NRW's Minister of Economics and Digital Affairs Andreas Pinkwart in August 2020. There were an estimated 70 to 80 digital health start-ups in NRW at that time, 35 took part in the survey, 11 of them from Düsseldorf alone. The survey also shows, among other things, that start-ups often emerge from universities and other research institutions - in other words, they ensure that new scientific findings find a practical application more quickly. Three of them have already successfully achieved this: Dermanostic, Routine Health and Clinomic.
Digital Dermatologist – dermanostic, treatment via app
Noticing a skin alteration is always a cause for concern. However, it can sometimes take weeks to get an appointment at the dermatologist’s. How can this situation be improved? The four dermatologists Alice and Ole Martin and Estefanía and Patrick Lang created the app ‘dermanostic’ for exactly this purpose – it is a kind of digital doctor’s surgery, open around the clock. The principle is very simple: you upload three pictures of the skin area in question, taken from different angles, answer a short survey and within 24 hours you receive a diagnosis, including, of course, an easily understandable doctor’s letter and – if necessary - a prescription. It was in the middle of the first wave of COVID-19 when the young business based in Düsseldorf entered the market – with a product that seemed tailored for the challenges of a pandemic. “Before, we used to get a lot of WhatsApp messages,” explains Dr. Estefanía Lang. “Friends used to send photos of their skin and asked if we were able to help. This is how we came up with the idea of the app. Since April 2020 we have treated more than 11,000 patients through dermanostic.” Recognition has already come in the form of a number of awards, such as, amongst others, Wettbewerb NRW – Wirtschaft im Wandel or the Entscheiderfabrik as part of the Medica.
The price per treatment is 25 euros, however, the dermanostic team is already working on becoming part of the healthcare provision funded through the statutory health insurances. After all, more than 90% of patients do not require a ‘real’ appointment with a dermatologist afterwards. •
The dermanostic founding team (from left): Dr Ole Martin, Dr Alice Martin, Dr Estefanía Lang and Patrick Lang.
dermanostic GmbH
Merowingerplatz 1
40225 Düsseldorf
fighting phantom pain with routine
The aim of Ilja Michaelis and his team at Routine Health is to make rehabilitation exercises at home, for example following an amputation or due to chronic pain in the hand, more entertaining, motivating, digital and mobile. What started off as a research project in 2013 has now become an acclaimed medical product. With the ‘Routine Health app’ the start-up based in Düsseldorf has created an individually compatible, digital therapy partner, which patients can access from everywhere via their tablet. This is useful as the medical treatment, for example in the case of an amputation, does not end with the discharge from the rehabilitation clinic. “More than 70% of all patients with amputations suffer from chronic phantom pains,” explains the founder of Routine, Ilja. “They develop as the brain cannot comprehend that a part of the body is missing. Through our Routine app we train the brain, which leads to a reduction of phantom pain.” The app takes over at the very point the rehabilitation centre finishes: through varied exercises and motivational elements it creates a new routine in the life of the patients. Upon recommendation professional associations reimburse the costs for their patients already. The next step will be the approval of the app as a Digital Gesundheitsanwendung (DiGA), a digital healthcare application, so that health insurances also can bear the costs. And a new research project is already in the pipeline: in a project promoted by the by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, Ilja and his team are working on making the technology usable for VR-glasses in the near future. •
Routine founder Ilja Michaelis and peer coach Dr Thomas Frey, who has lived with a leg amputation since 1986.
Routine Health GmbH
Graf-Adolf-Straße 69
40210 Düsseldorf
Clinomic develops ‘Alexa with a PhD’
How can modern and evidence-based intensive medical care work, whilst still leaving enough time for patients? The answer is Mona, the intelligent assistance system for intensive care units. With this artificial intelligence system the intensive care doctors Arne Peine and Lukas Martin are revolutionising the day to day dealings in ICUs: away from screens, away from data and documents and more attention for the patients. In order to achieve this they set up the start-up Clinomic at the beginning of 2019 and launched a year later with Mona. “Mona is like Alexa, just with a PhD,” Arne Peine says. “The assistance system is located directly next to the intensive care bed and has everything that medics working in ICUs have always wished for: eight microphones, a 180 degree camera, 5G as standard, voice control and a lot more.” Mona does not only pool data and makes it available at once, it also makes it possible to use voice documentation and simply connects with other clinics through telemedicine if necessary. This is the reason the system is not only of interest for large hospitals, but also in particular for small hospitals in faraway regions, for example Madeira, in the Azores or in parts of Greece. Even cruise ship companies have already expressed interest according to Arne Peine: “The demand was so high it literally floored us – also due to the pandemic.” The start-up based in Aachen started off with six people two years ago – today they have almost 50 staff. And the trend points towards growth. •
Intensive care specialists Dr Arne Peine and Dr Lukas Martin (from left) founded Clinomic.
Clinomic GmbH
Bachstr. 22
52066 Aachen
Words: Maria Leipold
Pictures: iStock, Patrycia Lukas, Illustration: dermanostic, Routine Health GmbH, Clinomic GmbH