How TI-Messenger will revolutionise telemedicine

Digitalisation in healthcare has gained momentum in recent years, and telemedicine in particular is playing an increasingly important role. It makes it possible to ensure medical care even in remote areas and to increase the efficiency of the healthcare system. In this context, networking the various players is particularly important – from general practitioners and nursing homes to ambulance services, specialist clinics and medical care centres. This problem is currently not solved across the board or in all areas. Our current digital and telemedicine care structures need a fundamental overhaul. In this post of my blog series on telemedicine, I will show how the TI-Messenger (TIM) can solve these challenges in its third stage of development. If you still need basic information about telemedicine or the current standard of telemedicine, feel free to check out the other posts in this series.

Current challenges in telemedicine

There are currently a large number of specialised telemedicine solutions, each of which covers specific requirements and needs. This specialisation means that none of these solutions can or should be used for all issues and cases. As a result, centres often have to resort to different solutions to ensure comprehensive care. This increases the complexity of the application and incurs costs.

One of the biggest obstacles is the lack of interoperability between the various telemedicine solutions. For example, emergency paramedics and doctors cannot seamlessly access the telemedicine systems of nursing homes to ensure fast and continuous medical care while the ambulance is on its way. Instead, information has to be transmitted manually, which costs valuable time and increases the risk of misunderstandings. This problem arises at all handover points between different service providers, such as from the nursing home to the ambulance service or from the general practitioner to the specialist.

Real-time integration of medical devices for providing vital data and medical imaging is particularly important in specialised and advanced telemedicine systems. Currently, individual manufacturers only offer support for selected devices. This means that changing telemedical software also involves an expensive change of medical devices – even though they are still functional. A current example of this is the discontinued teledoctor system from vitaphone GmbH, which has left hundreds of doctors with hardware that can no longer be used, even though it is actually functional.

Another obstacle is the currently prevailing static, non-standardised interfaces. Different medical institutions use different systems, which therefore cannot easily communicate with each other. This leads to isolated solutions and prevents the various players in the healthcare system from networking efficiently. The implementation, adaptation and expansion of interfaces are usually cost-intensive and time-consuming, which makes it difficult to achieve comprehensive networking and to introduce new technologies and procedures.

The third stage of TI-Messenger

The third stage of TI-Messenger adds a new function to the existing chat: video calls can now also be made in a standardised way. If telemedical services use this standardised way to establish connections, it is possible to make calls between different programmes without having to switch between applications.

Another important aspect is the ability to transfer data from medical devices directly into the message rooms, which makes it much easier to integrate them into telemedical treatment. This allows telemedicine system manufacturers to focus on the medical value of their solution instead of being slowed down by the legally compliant integration of various medical devices. For example, a patient's medical imaging or vital signs can be transmitted directly to the medical team treating them for a precise and rapid diagnosis – regardless of the medical device from which they originate.

Secure and dynamic networking of heterogeneous medical IT systems and medical software will also be possible with TIM 3.0 – without the need for complex configurations of interfaces and networks. With the third stage of development, the messenger can be integrated directly into other applications and thus serve as a secure communication platform across the boundaries of different systems and institutions. Since dynamically definable, structured data can also be added in the background to every readable message (e.g. a message with diagnostic findings or a prescription for a medication), it is possible to exchange data between the individual systems using modern interoperability standards (such as FHIR). The dynamic networking of the individual applications will consistently reduce the islands that still exist today.

Conclusion

The third stage of development of TI-Messenger will revolutionise telemedicine. The ability to conduct video calls and transfer data between different software systems and even diagnostic medical devices will enable seamless communication and networking in the healthcare system.

A large number of projects for digital care platforms are currently being developed by municipalities, associations of statutory health insurance physicians, hospitals and medical care centres (MVZs). They are designed to create digital solutions for cross-sectoral medical treatment. In this context, it is crucial to make the right architectural decisions now. The matrix protocol is an ideal solution for a secure, scalable and dynamic communication infrastructure. Since this is also at the core of the TI Messenger, the right course can be set today for a sustainable, interoperable future – regardless of how long the introduction of TIM 3.0 will take. Our interdisciplinary team of dedicated professionals with technical, medical and economic know-how, as well as comprehensive industry knowledge, is ready to help you identify or develop customised solutions for telemedical care platforms. In addition, we offer valuable support in architecture decisions in this area.

It is also worthwhile for the manufacturers of telemedicine solutions to deal with the topic of TI-Messenger and the matrix protocol at an early stage. With our health stack, we provide a comprehensive toolbox that makes it possible to develop advanced telemedicine and health applications quickly, interoperably and cost-effectively. This leaves more time for the real goal: to create applications that sustainably improve our medical care.

In my next blog post, I will explain how the Matrix protocol works as the core element of the TI Messenger and why it already offers real added value even without TIM.