Innovation

Etsimo is a cloud-based healthcare solution. Building on a large health database, the product has capabilities built with machine learning and artificial intelligence (AI). On the one hand, Etsimo provides software to large healthcare providers that assist doctors in diagnosing and treating patients properly. The system uses data on, for example, patient symptoms, preconditions, and data from previous patients with similar symptoms to ensure correct diagnosis and the most efficient treatment. On the other hand, Etsimo has provided the basis for a mobile application targeted at private customers to assess their health and need for treatment.

“We try to put you to optimal care. In short, we put the right person at the right care, at the right time, and with the right information.”

The idea emerged to deal with the complexity of finding health-related information and the market demand in the healthcare sector for a system to keep doctors informed about rare diseases to give patients the right diagnosis and the right care at the right time. Additionally, retaining data consistency and availability in diagnosis is considered to ensure that doctors use the same data to diagnose diseases. “[…] Rare diseases are something that doctors rarely have contact with, especially when they are not sitting at the hospitals that specialize in those rare diseases.”

Inspiration

Originally working with information discovery, Etsimo noticed that their solution had great potential in the healthcare sector through helping doctors to diagnose patients correctly. CEO Thomas’ personal experiences motivated him to pursue the idea further. His wife had been sick for over two years until doctors were able to diagnose and treat her successfully. All the doctors she visited were experts in their field, but they did not combine their information. This is where Etsimo’s data solution comes into play. Etsimo’s innovative solution takes all available data into account to provide accurate diagnosis and treatment from the beginning. Together man and machine provide much better results than each of them independently.

“A machine never forgets, and a machine can always take into account all available data. Doctors are humans. Humans make mistakes. […] Machines might be cold, but they always do the same thing in the same way.”

Healthcare is expensive and has limited availability in many regions worldwide. Thus, Etsimo’s mission today is to use data to provide primary healthcare for everyone. Etsimo makes healthcare available for those who need it even if there are no human doctors available and helps to improve existing health services.

“Keeping people healthy and providing healthcare to people is a goal that resonates with many people and especially with those who are employed by Etsimo.” This goal keeps employees motivated despite contracting new customers and partners being a slow process in the healthcare industry.

Overall impact

Applying digitalization in general and AI and machine learning in particular, Etsimo’s solution provides a more precise diagnosis to patients thanks to constantly updated health data that doctors can access. Receiving the proper diagnosis immediately helps not only patients but also optimizing resource usage and processes. Doctors’ time and resources are saved so that the healthcare system can handle more cases that explicitly require human care.

Thanks to data-driven approaches, healthcare costs will be more affordable and accessible, especially for those who live further away from urban areas and have limited patient care resources available. What is more, centralizing health data is beneficial when patients switch to different hospitals to optimize the diagnosis process. To be more specific, patients can avoid being requested to carry out unnecessary health tests and ensure that all doctors have their health data for the proper diagnosis. So, the short-term impacts could be seen in time and money-saving perspectives.

How Etsimo has made a tangible impact on society can be seen in the current pandemic. In cooperation with a partner in Minas Gerais, Brazil, Etsimo has developed an application that provides primary healthcare and reduces medically unnecessary hospital visits. Patients with light or mild symptoms of Covid-19 can reach doctors through telemedicine while others can be redirected to the right care, alleviating the risk of spreading the virus. Patients without symptoms, who often are afraid to visit a hospital for fear of infection, can be redirected to safe hospitals without Covid-19 cases.

Business benefit

Founded in 2016, Etsimo can count some of the largest healthcare providers in the Nordics among its customers. They have thus been able to improve healthcare for a large number of people by providing doctors with all the information they need to make the best decisions.

The current pandemic, which entails many opportunities for Etsimo, has proven that their innovative business model also works outside the Nordics. This opens the door to new markets and makes expanding the business possible in the future.

As a certified medical device, Etsimo empowers people to make informed choices by providing configurable risk handling, triage, care path placement tools, and information to increase health knowledge while helping doctors to ensure the right treatment at the right time.

The certification as a medical device, combined with Etsimo’s strong GDPR compliance, creates trust among Etsimo’s customers. This trust is one of Etsimo’s most sustainable competitive advantages. Etsimo proves that it is possible to use large amounts of personal health data for the benefit of many in a system that simultaneously respects the privacy and security of patient information.

Etsimo’s innovative solution provides a business model with large scaling opportunities. Once the cloud-solution is set up, a large number of users can benefit from it without high increases in costs. This keeps the price for Etsimo’s healthcare services affordable.

Watch video on YouTube

Social and environmental benefit

The company's mission is "to use data to provide basic healthcare for all". Thanks to cutting edge technologies, humans will get more affordable healthcare no matter where they live, how much money they earn, and how much they can pay for treatments and doctor visits. Everyone can be treated equally with proper care and at the right time. What is more, maintaining a good health condition of humans can be achieved through Etsimo’s solution by predicting potential health risks to prevent chronic conditions. The innovation makes both reactive and preventive care possible.

For the future, Etsimo aims at working together with more healthcare providers, insurance companies, and national health systems to reach an even larger number of people, make the benefits of Etsimo’s innovative health solution available for them, and thus play an even bigger role in changing our society for the better. Obtaining further healthcare partners will make Etsimo’s goal and mission achievable in the foreseeable future.

Looking into the environmental perspective, people might not need to visit doctors or hospitals so often since diagnosis can be done from a distance thanks to the use of new technology. Doctor’s visits that are unnecessary from a medical perspective can be avoided. This reduces traffic and emissions generated from a journey to the hospital.

Interview

Thomas Grandell, CEO & Co-founder

Watch video on YouTube