(NOMINATION FOR AUREA 2017 AWARD:VisMedic - Internet platform for tele-medicine

The online clinic VisMedic, a unique telemedicine platform in Southeast Europe, has enabled patients in Serbia and the region to have video consultations with medical doctors, which were limited exclusively to communication between doctors until now, due to high costs of the specialized video conference equipment.

All the users need, whether patient or doctors, is an electronic device with a microphone and a camera (PC, laptop, tablet or smartphone) and everyday broadband internet access (cable, ADSL, mobile phone).

This startup-pioneer of telemedicine in Serbia was founded by Jovan Paunovic, based on his own personal painful experience, after a successful battle with cancer. The platform, which had been developed for three years, has been active since 2015, whereas a new, upgraded version was made last year. The development of mobile apps and technology which will enable access to the platform through IP/cable television has also started.

The business model being developed by VisMedic enables considerable savings in time and money for both the patients and the service providers. Patient have been given a reliable tool for getting professional, personalized medical advice from the most competent experts in the quickest, easiest way possible, whereas, for medical workers, this is the simplest and most comfortable way to do extra work. By implementing this telemedicine project, health institutions are optimizing their operations and using their resources more rationally by increasing productivity and sales.

The prices of consultations through VisMedic are 30% lower than medical examinations by the same doctor at their office, and, keeping in mind the state of the health system in Serbia, the platform is a one-of-a-kind step forward in modernizing medicine in the country.

The project started with 30 medical doctors, whereas their number now exceeds 200. Partnerships with the biggest companies in the sector have been established, namely, the health system of Bel Medic, MediGroup, the Faculty of Dental Medicine, as well as the insurance companies AXA/VIG (Wiener) Insurance, Generali...

Video consultations with doctors through VisMedic are currently available to patients from the territories of former Yugoslavia, as well as to the diaspora of this region, and the project will expand to the markets of the EU, Russia and the Middle East in the next 12 months.

INNOVATION

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Due to very high costs of specialized video conference equipment, which also requires special conditions (specialized rooms), video consulting in healthcare was limited exclusively to communication between doctors until recently. The progress of the technology and its mass implementation in everyday life has created possibilities of making video consulting available to patients as well, from the comfort of their own homes, without the need to visit the doctor, deal with the traffic or wait in lines. Research by the American Health Association shows that video consulting is the second best option for contact with medical doctors, right behind the actual physical visit.

VisMedic is the first telemedicine platform enabling video consulting between doctors and patients in Southeast Europe, and they are also one of the global pioneers in this field. In its past three years of development, the technology has been mastered, the pool has been expanded to include more than 200 doctors and partnerships with leaders in providing healthcare services, namely insurance companies, telecoms and internet portals and healthcare communities, have been established, providing the company with a considerable competitive advantage.

VisMedic aims to facilitate access to top quality healthcare to all people, regardless of their geographical location, and at more affordable prices at that. The personal experience of the founder and the director, who had successfully beat cancer, but also the experience of several of the team members, familiarized the creators of the platform with numerous problems the patients face: not knowing which doctor to turn to, who the most competent doctors in the field in question are, inability to contact these doctors, excessive passage of time before the diagnosis, lack of time and care given by the doctor to the patient... Due to this, patients are forced to find the solution to their problems in other ways, with the most frequent one being turning to the “Google doctor”, which can be very dangerous, as there is a huge number of dubious sources of information on the internet, and those that are authorized are mostly generalized in character.

VisMedic doesn’t change the existing habits of its users. Instead, it provides them with a better and more reliable tool for getting a professional and personalized medical advice from the most competent experts in the quickest way possible, with the price of video consultation being 30% lower than a personal visit. The mass adoption of this kind of medical service provision could lead to even more favorable prices and bigger savings.

The platform is very easy to use for both sides. Patients only need to have a computer, a web camera and an internet connection, and the service is available on mobile phones as well. They are able to browse a unified database of doctors, containing detailed profiles and descriptions of their competencies and choose the doctor they want to contact. Doctors have an app which provides them with the list of scheduled consultations, and the entire medical documentation sent by the patient is available at a single click. Before the consultation, doctors are obliged to familiarize themselves with the patient’s case and be ready for them in a virtual office. When the time arrives, a video-link is established, and the patient can send additional documentation at the doctor’s request during the session as well.

VisMedic enables doctors to perform extra work in the simplest, most comfortable way possible. This extra work pays better than traditional models, while providing doctors with more free time.

The VisMedic platform has been developed in line with the highest world standards regulating patient data protection and security (HIPAA, HITECH...) and uses the latest technologies available for use in financial institutions for securing financial transactions. VisMedic thereby actively participates in forming good practice in the field of telemedicine globally.

They are also working on opening an API enabling other project, such as remote checking of blood sugar levels, pulse, blood pressure, ECG etc. to be connected to the platform, providing doctors with even more information about the patients and their general and current state.

Furthermore, they constantly cooperate with insurance and telecom companies on developing innovations, all to the end of providing better and more available healthcare.

They’ve also started developing mobile apps and innovative technology, which will enable access to the platform through IP/cable TV, a one-of-a-kind innovation the kind of which has yet to be implemented anywhere. This innovation will enable the penetration of doctors in any household, making for a big step forward in providing healthcare globally.

SOCIAL USEFULNESS

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Having in mind the results made by Serbia and other countries of the region (the very bottom of the list) since 2012, VisMedic, as a telemedicine platform, is a huge improvement and a step forward in modernizing health systems.

This was confirmed by the results made at the Get in the Ring contest for the best startup in Serbia, when VisMedic got over 80% of the audience vote, proving the seriousness of the problems faced by healthcare systems and the significance of this solution.

The idea of the platform is to reduce the problems in healthcare by facilitating access to top quality healthcare for all people, regardless of their geographical location, and at more affordable prices.

The platform enables easy, simplified access to health professionals (who are hard to reach personally) and reliable, otherwise unavailable, information regarding a given health problem, reducing in the process exposure to unauthorized information. Statistics show that 5% of all internet searches pertain to health (symptoms, diseases, medicines, reactions, diagnoses...), with 72% of internet users regularly Googling medical advice. This practice can be very dangerous due to the amount of unauthorized info on the net, whereas the information that has been authorized is most often generalized in nature.

The business model on which VisMedic is based enables individual access to the doctor for each user, along with great savings in time and money on both sides. Furthermore, patients from small places, which have no access to certain types of medical professionals in their home towns, are provided with the quickest possible way of getting the desired service.

On the other hand, the platform is the simplest, most comfortable way for health professionals to do extra work, with much higher potential earnings than through conventional work. In addition to that, this kind of extra work provides doctors with more free time, further reducing their stress, thereby increasing the quality of their services.

The project also insists on educating the populace about the benefits and the need for prevention. Also, due to a reduced need of visiting the doctor physically and performing consultation from a health institution, the project has a positive impact on the environment, due to reduced consumption of energy sources and emission of toxic gases.

The opening of an API, aiming to connect other innovative projects (remote checking of blood sugar levels, pulse, blood pressure, ECG etc.) to the platform, provides these startups with invaluable help by enabling them to access the already formed market and a developed client pool in the quickest, simplest way possible.

The development of the platform is for the most part a result of the work of local engineers and professionals, in cooperation with international experts, making VisMedic an example of local know-how, which participates actively in forming good practice in the field of telemedicine globally. As the team for the realization of such project needs to be multidisciplinary, VisMedic will help create new jobs for managers, legal practitioners, journalists, designers, medical doctors, pharmacists, engineers and other higher-education professions through planned investments and expanding to foreign markets.

During its development, the company offered around 300 free consultations to the market, and this practice will continue in the future. In order for the number of free consultations to increase considerably, they are also cooperating with pharmaceutical companies, whose interest in getting involved in this kind of project is especially big, if not as part of their marketing activities, then as part of their socially responsible projects. The University Children’s Hospital has been offered a free platform license.

FINANCIAL POTENTIAL

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The services provided by VisMedic are currently used by patients from the former Yugoslavian territory, and the project is to expand to the markets of the EU, Russia and the Middle East in the next 12 months. So far, there have been requests for cooperation sent from four markets.

A large number of services are also provided to patients belonging to the Yugoslavian diaspora from all over the world, with patients from Russia, Canada, America and Australia sending requests.

In addition to the owner, two institutional investors have invested in the project so far. VisMedic has gone through a specialized program of accelerated development for hi-tech companies in the field of healthcare, organized by the ABC investment fund, which has also provided them with a pre-seed investment. Furthermore, in September 2016, they placed first at CATCH 2016, winning an investment of EUR 750,000, the biggest seed investment in Serbia so far.

The project is joined every day by an increasing number of partners: healthcare institutions, insurance companies, telecom operators, pharmaceutical companies... At the beginning, the project was launched with 30 doctors, whereas the current number exceeds 200. They cooperate with the biggest healthcare service providers in Serbia: the healthcare system of Bel Medic, MediGroup, the Faculty of Dental Medicine, several medical institutions from Slovenia, as well as insurance companies: AXA/VIG (Wiener) insurance, Generali... Several new partnerships with world leaders should be announced soon.

The growth of the number of patients is a business secret, and around 80,000 consultations have been performed so far, including the testing and the training.

VisMedic has proven its ability to stand out from the competition and establish itself as a leader several times so far:

– It won the best Serbian startup award at the Get in the Ring contest in 2016

– It won the unofficial title (the award is not handed out officially) of the 2nd best startup in East Europe at the 2016 Get in the Ring

– It entered the top 500 best world startup list at Austria’s 2016 Pioneers Festival

– It entered the list of the 100 best world (non-American) startups to be given an opportunity to penetrate the US market to the end of further global development and which were presented as examples of good practice at the White House at a late 2016 entrepreneurial forum

– It placed first at CATCH 2016, winning the top investment in the competition of over 850 startups from all over the world

– It entered the list of the top 350 startups slated to appear at Poland’s 2017 Wolves Summit

The funds are also invested in the further development and improvement of the platform – the development of mobile apps and innovative technology they are currently working on, which will enable access to the platform through IP/cable TV. This sort of innovation has not been implemented anywhere in the world so far, which will further enhance the company’s competitive advantage in the market. An early stage prototype already exists, and the version which might be released commercially is expected by the end of 2017.

The telemedicine market is emerging and has a very high rate of growth, and the video consultation market in the developed world has alone been estimated at USD 175 billion. Perhaps the best confirmation of the growth of this market is the fact that, by 2017, 71% of big American employers had offered video consultations with medical doctors as a benefit to their employees. The potential of these projects measures in billions of euros, as confirmed by the interest displayed by venture capital funds, which expect a 20-30 times return on their investments.

If VisMedic internet platform for tele-medicine is your favorite for the investment of the year, you can vote at the Aurea award official website .

VisMedic Beograd

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