An eHealth Platform to Manage Chronic Disease in Primary Care: An Innovative Approach

Abstract

The number of individuals with chronic illness and multimorbidity is growing due to the rapid ageing of the population and the greater longevity of individuals. This causes an increasing workload in care, which results in a growing need for structural changes of the health care system. In recent years this led to a strong focus on promoting "self-management" in chronically ill patients. Research showed that patients who understand more about their disease, health, and lifestyle have better experiences and health outcomes, and often use less health care resources; the effect is even more when these patients are empowered to and responsible for managing their health and disease. In addition to the skills of patients, health care professionals need to shift to a role of teacher, partner, and professional supervisor of their patients. One way of supervising patients is by the use of electronic health (eHealth), which helps patients manage and control their disease. The application of eHealth solutions can provide chronically ill patients high-quality care, to the satisfaction of both patients and health care professionals, alongside a reduction in health care consumption and costs.