Transforming healthcare delivery through digital solutions

Lab professionals and healthcare organisations are faced with greater complexity as they are asked to manage an increasingly large number of samples, deliver high-quality results faster and increase profitability.

Moreover, the provision of global healthcare is becoming more costly, with spending projected to increase from approximately USD $7.7 trillion to USD $10 trillion by 2022.¹ As a result, pressures are mounting on laboratories to increase productivity and drive efficiencies, while adapting to new regulations and data privacy laws.

Diagnostics play a leading role in both disease prevention and management, in addition to meeting these increasingly complex healthcare challenges. This is evident as in vitro diagnostics influence approximately two-thirds of all clinical decision-making, despite accounting for only about 2% of total healthcare spending.²

Roche understands the value of the clinical laboratory within the broader healthcare ecosystem and is committed to developing innovative solutions to help labs and clinicians meet the needs of today, and in the future.

“With digitalisation, the lab has an opportunity to provide value in healthcare beyond the diagnostic sample result,” said Youssef Khayali, Head of Integrated Diagnostics & Healthcare Solutions, Roche Diagnostics. “Working in partnership, Roche can help labs manage their data for insights to better inform patient and operational decision-making.’

Using easy-to-use dashboards and reports about the data in their lab or hospital operations, applications today can help healthcare leaders improve their organisation’s operational effectiveness as well as take a fact-based approach to managing diverse challenges in their healthcare setting. 

Leveraging meaningful data to individualise patient treatment

An explosion of data and knowledge in medicine, diseases and science is beginning to impact the healthcare industry, bringing with it a transformation in care. In an era of digital technology, we will be able to increasingly tailor medical treatment to the needs of individuals and small groups of patients. New technologies and approaches will challenge the current care environment, forcing it to evolve through more novel, efficient applications in the quest for better outcomes and more affordable care.

Combined with a deeper understanding of molecular science and new methods for diagnostics, this development will bring disruptive change to how we research, develop, approve and pay for medicines, as well as how patients and their physicians make decisions about whether, when and how to treat illness.

While new technology brings far-reaching opportunities, equipment is just one aspect of enabling sustainable gains. Roche is harnessing the power of data analytics and workflow integration to gain insights that can revolutionise the current healthcare standard. Redesigning the lab and aligning work processes can inevitably boost performance over time. 

To ensure dedicated support and expertise throughout these changes, Roche provides personalised consultancy every step of the way, across the continuum of care; from the first assessment phase through implementation, and beyond. From prevention to follow-up, labs can help improve patient care with more efficient management of data - both operational and clinical - and turn that data into actionable results for fact-based decision-making for clinicians and patients. 

Big data and advanced analytics allow us to better understand every patient’s journey. The scale of the digital healthcare transformation requires new approaches to analytics, data standardisation and digital applications. New partnerships are ensuring we are moving toward a more value-based, personalised patient-care world - where insights and actions are driven by data, thus, equipping care teams to make the best decisions possible. 

"Personalised healthcare in the digital era will extend beyond the current benefits of individualised treatment, making digital solutions a key pillar of our ongoing strategy," shared Thomas Schinecker, CEO at Roche Diagnostics. "Combining the creativity and agility from startups with the strength and innovation of Roche will help us address some of the biggest challenges in diagnostics and ultimately enable better decision-making while improving patient outcomes."

With more than 100 digital technology and data initiatives already underway, Roche is working with innovative companies in the data, analytics and software fields to simplify and streamline clinical and laboratory workflow processes and to improve patient healthcare delivery. Our recent acquisitions of Flatiron and Foundation Medicine are also helping us further accelerate our vision for personalised healthcare. 

Roche Diagnostics will continue to explore new approaches with startup companies. Recently, working with Plug and Play, the largest health innovation platform in Munich, Germany, Roche joined a health-focused innovation program - "Startup Creasphere." This program aims to create a hub of health innovation in Europe, where forward-thinking corporations and disruptive startups can meet to pilot solutions and services, drive investments, learn and share experiences and facilitate international expansion.

The Startup Creasphere will run two batch programs annually, evaluating hundreds of startups from across the globe and selecting the most promising companies to join each batch. The program focuses on topics from right across the healthcare value chain, such as, Digital Service Solutions, Point of Care, Digital Biomarkers, Digital Imaging and Personalised Healthcare.

Through ongoing partnerships, Roche is helping to change the way healthcare is delivered to patients, addressing some of the major healthcare challenges faced today. Facilitating high-quality, integrated diagnostic tests in collaboration with digital partners, Roche is helping to enhance healthcare provisions on behalf of patients around the world.