OpeNet, an artificial intelligence for family doctors

Monitor the patient even remotely by following the evolution of his state of health thanks to the real-time updating of medical records data, guaranteeing the best care thanks to the possibility of online consultations and training support on chronic diseases, always available of the doctor. After the lesson of the Covid-19 pandemic, healthcare is redesigning itself by focusing on territorial assistance aimed at home care and on telemedicine. And new tools come to the aid of family doctors such as ‘Openet’, a platform born from a collaboration between Net Medica Italia, Novartis and Ibm Italia, already used by more than 500 general practitioners throughout the country. “Covid has brought to light the limits of the health care model adopted so far, based on the central role of the hospital – underlines Nicola Calabrese, president of Net Medica Italia – revealing new needs for optimal management of patients, and in particular those with chronicity, and consequently new needs for the general practitioner. Digital technology represents one of the responses to this changed scenario, favoring an evolution of the doctor-patient relationship, the role of the general practitioner and the relationship with the specialist “. With an open structure, Openet is able to integrate with a large number of tools and management systems. The platform is equipped with a virtual assistant able to provide the general practitioner, 24 hours a day and 7 days a week, with up-to-date information on chronic diseases available at the moment. Furthermore, thanks to the different integrated applications of IBM Watson4, doctors will be able to receive an alert when their patient data meets the predefined requirements thanks to Novartis medical-scientific expertise, allowing the doctor to evaluate how to intervene. The data of the medical records used are anonymized in full compliance with the privacy regulations. One of the main qualities of Openet lies in the ability to integrate and exchange data with the management systems and platforms used by family doctors through the services of Net Medica Italia, to encourage new channels of collaboration with the specialist for a consultation on the clinical picture of the patient and the therapies administered. “With Openet, Novartis offers an important digitalization tool that will make it possible to improve healthcare according to an increasingly proactive model of medicine, closer to the patient and more attentive to their needs – says Pasquale Frega, Country president and director of Novartis Italia – The pandemic has highlighted the need to transform the chronic patient care system. Digital in the health system can facilitate the evolution from a model centered on the hospital and with a silo logic, to one based on a systemic vision of health, which can favor the development of a real one initiative medicine “.” In the last year – declares Stefano Rebattoni, CEO of Ibm Italia – technological innovation has shown that it can make a fundamental contribution in providing quality health services, in safety and sustainability. By supporting that continuum of taking charge, diagnosis, care and assistance of the patient, the founding pillar of an effective and efficient health system “.” The central element of this path – highlights the CEO – are the data and information that technologies such as cloud, artificial intelligence, blockchain and the Internet of things can make them available in a timely manner to all the players in the system, from doctors to patients. The Openet project is a concrete example of this type of solution. Those that the country needs to face the digital and transformation challenges it faces, and on which IBM Italia intends to provide its best and full support “.