HealthPort
Sub-Saharan African countries lack reliable medical resources to deliver care consistently to patients in need. HealthPort aims to improve equitable access to quality medical care by using digitized solutions to efficiently manage care delivery and resource availability. Through clinician support and asset management we can decrease hypoxemia related deaths.
According to recent estimates, every year about 120–156 million cases of hypoxemia occur globally with approximately 1.4 million resulting in death. More than 95% of these deaths occur in low and middle income countries. Clinicians constantly have to grapple with delivering care with limited resources and rely on traditional medical practices which further worsens patient outcomes.
Lack of safe , effective and adequately functioning medical equipment directly correlates to weak health infrastructure and poor patient outcomes. Healthport mission is to address medical asset management using a triad approach - procurement assessment, clinician support, and capacity building of local technicians.
According to a recent study, 14% of Children admitted in Nigerian hospitals are hypoxic, 18% of under-five deaths are from pneumonia, which translates to one-sixth of the global pneumonia mortality rate and ranked 2nd globally. Recent estimates also indicated that every year about 120–156 million cases of hypoxemia occur globally with approximately 1.4 million resulting in death. More than 95% of these deaths occur in low and middle income countries.
HealthPort intervention aims to provide access to low cost medical oxygen device asset management and algorithm based care to simplify hypoxemia management process for clinicians. The HealthPort (HeP) dashboard will be accessible to clinicians to improve care coordination and assist low resource clinics maintain mission critical equipment.
A system that is less reliant on international support will influence the current statistics that shows that 40%-70% of medical devices and equipment in low resource settings are broken, unused, or unfit for purpose .
HealthPort hopes to improve patient outcome by driving care efficiency and relieving management burden in low resource settings.
HealthPort is a web-based application that is accessible from any platform enabling clinicians to access treatment resources in real-time. Information to boost clinician confidence in rendering care and how to coordinate care for a higher-level referral will therefore be easily accessible thus improving door to management time and ultimately patient outcomes.
In low-resource settings, medical equipment placement rarely prioritizes fit for use, user support, or preventative maintenance. Most types of equipment are donated by international agencies and they are either unfit for use or lack a periodic preventative maintenance plan(PPM). To prevent highly needed medical equipment from becoming redundant, HealthPort will use digital solutions to improve how clinicians are diagnosing and managing patients (clinical algorithm) while also taking ownership of medical equipment management using an RFID system/equipment database.
The HealthPort technology will allow clinicians to quickly identify patients in need of oxygen treatment and connect patients to an optimally functioning oxygen delivery device. A single application/chatbot will connect health centers to management information, care coordination resources and equipment availability.
HealthPort is reinventing efficiency in how healthcare is delivered in low-resource settings; this solution is value-based and patient-centered.
Our solution aims to reach clinicians, healthcare centers, and patients, especially pediatric and expectant mothers in low resource settings. Over 70% of hypoxia-related mortality happens in low resource settings and attributable factors include poor infrastructure and access to resources.
In a Nigerian study published in January, 2021, only 5% (8% in the South, 2% in the North) of the health facilities included used pulse oximetry for patient care. 42% of Pediatrics wards in these facilities in the South had oxygen provision, while only 11% had in the Northern centres. Only 3 out of the 57 oxygen concentrator found produces medical grade oxygen (>85% purity). In order to understand the problem, we have liase with NGOs working in the field and made hospital visits to get first hand knowledge of the constraints. As stated in the studies we identified very poor infrastructure and expensive cost of services as the pry constraints of health facilities having optimum oxygen therapy available for patients. We are set to commence a 3month pilot to evaluate the implementability and viability of our solutions. This will afford us the opportunity to get the target population to contribute to the solutions and develop it to market fit.
The HealthPort solution will enable clinicians to deliver fast efficient care to this population, decrease under 5 mortality and improve local access to medical oxygen without the cost constraints. Clinicians and health centers will have the opportunity to partner with HealthPort for an added service of care coordination on the HeP( HealthPort) dashboard.
- Equip last-mile primary healthcare providers with the necessary tools and knowledge to detect disease outbreaks quickly and respond to them effectively.
Low to middle-income countries lack adequate health infrastructure to efficiently respond during a pandemic and in the regular day-to-day management of health issues. Improving the capacity of clinicians and creating an adaptable solution for clinical assessment and management pose to improve management time/outcomes and clinician confidence in recommended management.
HealthPort will be providing two solutions to this, access to management resources (Clinical algorithm) which will entail immediate identification of symptoms patterns that will alert the Clinicians in an event of outbreak. While our second solution of asset management makes required essential medical equipment ready for use for prompt management always.
- Pilot: An organization deploying a tested product, service, or business model in at least one community.
HealthPort is currently launching its pilot in SouthWest Nigeria, partnering with local NGOs, the Ministry of Health, and 2 Health facilities so far. We will be working with approximately 50 pieces of medical equipment during our pilot, (some already mapped), training 50 clinicians on our oxygen management algorithm/pulse oximetry, and deploying 10 biotechnicians for asset management. The pilot is intended to last for 3 months.
