Every startup begins with the identification of a problem, followed by ideas to solve it. For the Belgian app maker SyndoHealth, this problem is helping patients with chronic diseases cope with their illnesses. Their solution is mobile technologies and wearables.
In the European Union (EU), common chronic illnesses account for 78 percent of all healthcare costs,[1] and this percentage will likely increase in the future. Lifestyle behaviours and patterns, as well as genetics, social environment, and the healthcare system, all determine health conditions to varying extents. Although the Belgian healthcare system is efficiently designed and functions properly for acute diseases and episodic interventions, it does not work so well for chronic diseases. The prevention and management of chronic diseases require frequent and personalised interventions that often fall outside of the healthcare setting. This disconnect results in extremely low adherence to treatment from patients suffering from these illnesses.
Enter app maker and ACT | The App Association member company SyndoHealth. Founded in 2018 with the support of Carevolution, a Belgian investment fund in the health sector, SyndoHealth is using mobile solutions to help patients with chronic diseases cope with their illnesses. Led by Sandra Schnock and Peter Deckers, the company has five full-time employees and collaborates with many specialised experts and medical staff across the EU.
SyndoHealth is a medically certified app that enables patients to adapt their lifestyles to their specific pathology, focusing on heart diseases. Through wearables and other connected devices, the app captures a patient’s vital signs, such as heart rate or blood pressure. The app also provides medication reminders and personalised advice validated by medical professionals with the aim to drive behavioural change in patients. “The good thing about apps is that they are mobile and a handy tool to interact with patients. Before, a patient had to physically go to the doctor to get advice. Now all of this is possible at home or anywhere else,” Peter Decker noted.
As a small startup in the Belgian health sector, SyndoHealth faced its fair share of challenges. Health systems in the EU are highly subsidised and regulated. While the compulsory health care insurance system provides great benefits for its residents with access to high-quality care at an extremely low cost, it makes it difficult for small startups to compete with larger, state-subsidised firms. Many new market entrants develop new products without knowing if the healthcare system will reimburse patients for the new solution. This situation risks stifling innovation, especially as no real framework exists for the reimbursement of mHealth solutions.
After overcoming some of these challenges, SyndoHealth recently reached a major milestone by partnering with a major insurance provider, Partena Mutualities, that aims to integrate the SyndoHealth app into its reimbursement structure for chronic diseases. Today, the app is available on all the major app stores and a web interface supports medical care and management of electronic patient files. We are excited to see SyndoHealth’s progress and future innovative ways it comes up with to meet the health challenges of tomorrow.
[1] European Commission, Moving forward 2020 – Priorities for Public Health for the years 2013-2020