The CMU Portugal Large Scale Collaborative project IntelligentCare (Intelligent Multimorbidity Management System) was featured in Público Newspaper. The article introduced the work being led by Hospital da Luz Learning Health to improve the quality of life of patients with multimorbidity (MM) who have at least two chronic diseases while finding solutions to contribute to the sustainability of the Healthcare System.
Interviewed by Público, Francisca Leite, Director at Hospital da Luz Learning Health and the project promoter, explained that “the goal is to have in this platform all the patient’s information, including suggestions for medical interventions, and even create a score that evaluates the hospitalization risk of each patient that comes to our Hospital.”
Francisca added, “if we have more data on each patient, that will allow us to act preventively and manage their health instead of the disease. That would help to take some pressure off the health system and direct resources to where they are needed, that is, to people who are sick.”
To achieve that goal, the project uses artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms to develop a patient-centric solution to help manage the MM condition and contribute to better diagnoses, and deliver more effective patient outcomes. This patient-centric solution expects to use analytical methods to explore data from the electronic health records (EHR) and the measures reported remotely by the patients, related to outcomes (PROMs) and to life events/quality of life/physical activity, named as additional value variables (AVVs), using smart sensors and mobile solutions.
The IntelligentCare consortia will soon launch a pilot with around 80 patients with at least two chronic diseases. The research will be supported by the information available on patients’ clinical records and data registered through Smart sensors or smartwatches to monitor each patient’s health (physical activity, sleep patterns, etc.). According to Plínio Moreno, one of the researchers from Instituto Superior Técnico involved in the project, “in this pilot, we use smartwatches to monitor physical activity, and we also have a mat, which is placed under the mattress, to measure sleep status and also heart rate during the night – and this is information that throughout time can support the doctor in making better-informed decisions.”
José Santos Victor, who leads the project at Instituto Superior Técnico, adds “we took advantage of this technology [smartwatches] and developed a study to detect falls based on the sensors. In the elderly population, falls are an important event and often have complex consequences. We’ve developed algorithms to detect and process that information. And it is very interesting because it shows that this common sensor can help us monitor people’s well-being.”
The IntelligentCare project, supported under the CMU Portugal Program, will end by June 2023 but has established the groundwork for further research. According to José Santos Vitor, if the pilot test works, there’s the possibility to integrate the project into the Grupo Luz Saúde and continue the work developed under this collaboration that, in addition to Hospital da Luz Learning Health and Técnico/ISR Lisboa, includes Priberam, INESC ID and the Heinz College at Carnegie Mellon University.
