We're building Moveshelf, the first all-in-one application for clinical movement labs. Why is that needed now? And for whom? From now until the end of the year, we will be posting a series of blog posts answering that question. In this first part, we're taking a look at recent developments in society, that have created the need for new software solutions for clinical movement labs.
Development 1: Digital health and care
European governments are taking on challenges in the health of European citizens by encouraging digital transformation of health and care. In 2018, the EU has stated three priorities:
1. Secure access and exchange of health data
EU governments are consulting with healthcare administrators on secure standards that should facilitate digital data sharing. They are also talking to suppliers of IT systems. Moveshelf enables movement labs to connect to electronic health records to increase security and simplify data access for all hospital departments interested in data from the movement lab. This helps increase visibility of the movement lab both internally and externally.
2. Health data pooled for research and personalised medicine
Leaders in the field of movement analysis agree that there is a huge potential in structurally collecting and processing motion analysis data to enable computer aided diagnosis, by using Machine Learning. Moveshelf enables this structured analysis with a modern database that can easily support large numbers of individuals.
3. Digital tools and data for person-centred healthcare
Citizens should be able to monitor their health, adapt their lifestyle, and interact with their doctors and caretakers from home. The data portability enabled by Moveshelf will make it possible to create connections to eHealth portals and the patient’s own health apps.
Development 2: Increased government regulation
Over the last few years, the EU has adopted stronger regulations. Two regulations especially have a clear impact on movement labs:
1. General Data Protection Regulation
The EU-wide General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into effect in May 2018 and creates strict obligations on Data Controllers (those collecting personal data for a purpose), such as healthcare institutions with movement labs. Data Controllers need to implement measures to ensure Data Protection, such as access controls, encryption, and backups as well as compliance to Data Subject rights such as Data Removal and Data Portability. Movement lab data transfers by e-mail or WeTransfer clearly do not meet these measures. With Moveshelf, it becomes possible to ensure compliance while easily sharing interactive multi-media reports with video and 3D data with clinicians.
2. Medical Device Regulation
After a one-year delay due to COVID-19, in May 2021 the new EU Medical Device Regulations (MDR) will come into full force. Recognizing the increased importance of software, this updated regulation has an increased focus on software as a Medical Device. Today, Moveshelf is not a diagnostic tool, but we are actively working with leading researchers to develop new software capabilities and components, that will help leading movement labs leverage their own data, both past and present.
In the rest of the series, we'll be taking on the perspective of the different stakeholders around the movement lab: physicians, lab managers, IT managers, data protection officers and researchers. If you'd like to receive the whole series as a white paper, please get in touch. Or follow us on Twitter or LinkedIn to be reminded about new posts in the series.