DMEA: How digital communication should empower patients

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Right at the start of the medical IT trade fair DMEA in Berlin, a topic was set that fundamentally shapes the digital transformation in healthcare: Communication with patients is often neglected because the healthcare system is historically oriented towards treatment – not relationships: appointments are too short, processes too rigid, digital tools too rarely integrated into everyday life, and the role of patients as active co-decision-makers is not yet a matter of course culturally.

Therefore, moderator Andrea Galle, board member of mkk – meine krankenkasse, made it clear right at the beginning: “Actually, we won't be talking about digitalization. We will be talking about relationships.” And further: “In the end, it's all about how we shape our relationships with each other.”

Under the title “Speaking up, deciding together, shaping together,” four projects showed how they want to strengthen the role of patients – moving away from being mere recipients of information towards being an active part of the care process.

From Information Flow to Relationship

Gudrun Liß and Andreas Hempel from Asklepios Service IT kicked things off with their patient portal. Their starting point: Patients today often lack transparency about the treatment steps planned with them. Appointments, documents, tasks, and messages should converge in one place in the future – thus actively involving patients in the treatment process.

Both emphasized that technical solutions alone are not enough. “Good care is no longer created solely through good treatment. But also through continuous information, good communication,” said Hempel. And Liß clearly stressed: “A portal is not an IT project.” Crucial are integration into clinical processes, involving employees, and consistent change management. Without this organizational foundation, as experienced in the pilot projects, double documentation and lack of acceptance quickly arise.

Better Decisions Through Preparation

Martin Huber demonstrated with his free, AI-supported “ClinicCoach” for Android and iOS how digital tools can change interaction in doctor's appointments. He described what happens when patients go into a conversation informed but not prepared: frustration, misunderstandings, the feeling of not being heard. “Medicine is simply not online shopping,” said Huber – alluding both to the limits of uncritical internet research and the complexity of medical decisions.

His ClinicCoach intervenes earlier: in a dialog-based process, the application helps to structure symptoms, concerns, and questions. According to Huber, it's not primarily about data, but about “confidence, solutions, values, and the patient finding their own way.” The result: patients are better prepared and can enter the conversation on an equal footing.

Huber made clear what particularly drives him at the end of his presentation. The story he had previously presented as a patient example was his own: in 2018, he was diagnosed with a brain tumor. “I really felt alone at the time,” he said. “That's what moved me the most – this feeling that patients shouldn't be alone.”

Transparency as Key to Therapy Adherence

Caroline Ringauf from Fresenius Medical Care used the example of home dialysis to show how crucial the first few weeks are after switching to the home environment. Up to 20 percent of patients discontinue therapy in the first 90 days – despite intensive preparation. The trigger for a change was simple but crucial feedback from a pilot phase: “It's good that my nurse can see my treatment data – I want to see it too.”

For Ringauf, this was a key moment: “Obviously, it's not purely a monitoring problem, but an empowerment problem.” Digital applications that give patients insight into their own data create security – especially when uncertainties arise in everyday life. The pilot projects showed: transparency leads to fewer therapy dropouts. Supplemented by AI-supported risk analyses, at-risk patients can also be identified early, allowing nursing staff to intervene specifically.

Making Complexity Manageable

Birthe Boeckel and Dr. Fabian Feutlinske from MenoLife presented a systemic approach using the example of women's health. “Women's health is one of the most complex medical areas,” said Boeckel – thereby also describing the fundamental problem: symptoms, cycle, lab values, medication, and life circumstances are closely related, but can hardly be captured in a seven-minute doctor's appointment.

Their MenoLife platform consists of two closely integrated components: the Mena app for female patients and the MenoLife dashboard for therapists and doctors. While patients use the app to systematically record and document symptoms, cycle, medication, and lab values, those providing care receive a condensed overview via the MenoLife dashboard – prepared by AI, even before the patient enters the treatment room.

“Our current healthcare system cannot address this problem if it only revolves around the doctor's appointment,” said Boeckel. The solution: a platform that combines app and dashboard, systematically collects and processes data – even before the actual appointment. “AI can help us break down this complexity,” added Feutlinske. The goal is not another individual tool, but a common infrastructure for patients, doctors, and therapists: “We need an integrated system.”
In the long term, the platform is to be expanded beyond women's health to other complex medical areas such as thyroid disorders, insulin regulation, or palliative care.

Empowerment with Discretion

In the final discussion, it became clear that empowerment is not a given. Not all patients want to actively take responsibility – and that is legitimate. “You can't force anyone to be happy,” said Huber. The key lies in freedom of choice: digital applications should provide those who want to co-decide with the tools to do so – without overwhelming those who do not wish to. Trust is built not through individual contacts, but through continuous support and many small pieces of feedback in everyday life.

Everyone agreed: It's not about digitalization. It's about relationships.

(vza)