Developing new approaches to basic care – across professions and together with patients

This year, more than 100 specialists took part, including representatives from health insurance companies, hospitals, family doctor practices, pharmacies, telemedicine and digital health companies. Patients directly affected were also involved in developing the respective case studies and contributed their experience to the solution process. The patient’s perspective leads to solutions that are accepted by those affected and offer real added value. Julia Gubler, who was part of the Pfizer team as a migraine patient, says: “I am positively surprised by how much attention was paid to my perspective as a patient. The solutions developed will not only help me, but also other people affected.”

After a project phase of almost five months, the interprofessional teams were able to present their solutions to a high-calibre jury of experts in Nottwil. All the contributions had one thing in common: they focused on collaboration as networks and a high degree of digitalisation. The application examples are intended to simplify healthcare for the benefit of patients and enable individual needs to be addressed.

For Felix Bader, who is responsible for the overall health policy planning of the Canton of Aargau and a member of the expert jury, the idea of networking hits the mark perfectly: “Healthcare generally works together on an interprofessional basis, but there is plenty of room for improvement, particularly in terms of the overall view. That’s why the Healthcare Professionals Initiative is valuable for networking and learning new perspectives.”

From women’s health to relieving the burden on family doctors to dealing with migraines: the eleven teams worked on the case studies submitted, which were supported by the various partners of the initiative. As a specific example, the group addressed the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular diseases in female patients, engaging the participants on site, and demonstrated the importance of training and further education for all points of contact in the healthcare sector.

Galenica CEO Marc Werner was impressed by the performance of the eleven teams: “The examples presented show just how much potential there is in cross-company collaboration. When we bring experts together, consistently take the patient’s perspective and share our knowledge, new solutions emerge.” A lot was achieved in one day, but in the end, more is needed to implement ideas for the benefit of patients: “That’s a lot of work, it requires leadership and a sense of responsibility. The focus should not be on our own interests, but those of the patients.”