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BACKGROUND: Personalized medicine (PM) is an approach based on understanding the differences between patients with the same disease and represents a change from the "one size fits all" concept. According to this concept, appropriate therapies should be selected for specific groups of patients. PM makes it possible to predict whether a particular therapy will be effective for a particular patient. PM will still have to overcome many challenges and barriers before it can be successfully implemented in healthcare systems. However, it is essential to remember that PM is not a medical revolution but an evolution. METHODS: Three focus groups were conducted, to achieve the purpose of this study, which was to identify the barriers and facilitators existing to the implementation of PM and to highlight existing practices in European countries. Focus group discussions covered the areas of barriers and facilitators to the implementation of personalized medicine. RESULTS: This section describes the results of the focus groups that covered the areas of barriers and facilitators of personalized medicine implementation. CONCLUSIONS: Personalized medicine faces many challenges and barriers before it can be successfully implemented in health systems. The translation of PM to European countries, differences in regulations, high costs of new technologies, and reimbursement are the reasons for the delay in PM implementation.
RESUMEN
(1) Background: Personalised medicine (PM) is an innovative way to produce better patient outcomes by using an individualised or stratified approach to disease and treatment rather than a collective approach to treating patients. PM is a major challenge for all European healthcare systems. This article aims to identify the needs of citizens in terms of PM adaptation, as well as to provide insights into the barriers and facilitators categorised in relation to key stakeholders of their implementation. (2) Methods: This article presents data obtained from the survey "Barriers and facilitators of Personalised Medicine implementation-qualitative study under Regions4PerMed (H2020) project". Semi-structured questions were included in the above-mentioned survey. The questions included both structured and unstructured segments in an online questionnaire (Google Forms). Data were compiled into a data base. The results of the research were presented in the study. The number of people who participated in the survey can be considered an insufficient sample size for statistical measurement. In order to avoid collecting unreliable data, the questionnaires were sent to various stakeholders of the Regions4PerMed project, which includes members of the Advisory Board of the Regions4PerMed Project, but also speakers of conferences and workshops, and participants in these events. The professional profiles of the respondents are also diverse. (3) Results: The insights on what would help in the adaptation of Personal Medicine to citizen needs have been categorised into 7 areas of need: education; finances; dissemination; data protection/IT/data sharing; system changes/governmental level; cooperation/collaboration; public/citizens. Barriers and facilitators have been categorised into ten key stakeholders of the implementation barriers: government and government agencies; medical doctors/practitioners; healthcare system; healthcare providers; patients and patient organisations; medical sector, scientific community, researchers, stakeholders; industry; technology developers; financial institutions; media. (4) Conclusions: Barriers to the implementation of Personalised Medicine are observed across Europe. The barriers and facilitators mentioned in the article need to be effectively managed in healthcare systems across Europe. There is an urgent need to remove as many barriers as possible and create as many facilitators as possible to implement personalized medicine in the European system.
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BACKGROUND: In recent years, rapid population ageing has become a worldwide phenomenon. Both electronic health services (eHealth) and mobile health services (mHealth) are becoming important components of healthcare delivery. The market for mHealth is growing extremely fast. However, despite the increasing investment and interest in eHealth, several challenges still need to be overcome to enable broader and more systematic implementation of ICT in healthcare. METHODS: This study presents data from the survey "Barriers and facilitators of Personalised Medicine implementation- qualitative study under Regions4PerMed (H2020) project". In addition, this paper discusses the results of the conference, Health Technology in Connected & Integrated Care, held under the Horizon 2020 project and interregional coordination for a fast and deep uptake of personalised health (Regions4Permed) (July 2020-online conference). The above sections were preceded by an analysis of existing articles. RESULTS: The data obtained from the surveys show that the main barriers to the adoption of eHealth and mHealth are the lack of skills of seniors, but also the lack of user-friendly technology and a simple user interface. Access to individual data while ensuring its security and the lack of digitisation of medical data are also serious issues. In addition, medical digital solutions are overly fragmented due to national legislations that deviate from the General Data Protection Regulation. CONCLUSIONS: By using technological solutions, it is possible to improve diagnosis and treatment decisions, and better adapt treatment and reduce its duration and cost. However, there are still barriers to the development of eHealth. Clear recommendations for implementation are needed to enable further development of personalised eHealth and mHealth solutions.
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INTRODUCTION: Health and social care systems in Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries have undergone significant changes and are currently dealing with serious problems of system disintegration, coordination and a lack of control over the market environment. DESCRIPTION: The increased health needs related to the ageing society and epidemiological patterns in these countries also require funding needs to increase, rationing to be reformed, sectors to be integrated (the managed care approach), and an analytical information base to be developed if supervision of new technological approaches is to improve. The period of system transitions in CEE countries entailed significant changes in their health systems, including health care financing. DISCUSSION: Large deficits in the public financing of health systems were just one of the challenges arising from the economic downturn of the 1990s, which was coupled with inflation, increasing unemployment, low salaries, a large informal sector and tax evasion in a number of CEE countries. During the communist period, there was universal access to a wide range of health services, proving it difficult to retain this coverage. As a result, many states sought to ration publicly funded health services - for example, through patient cost-sharing or decreasing the scope of basic benefits. Yet, not all of these reform plans were implemented, and in fact, some were rolled back or not implemented at all due to a lack of social or political consensus. CONCLUSION: CEE health systems had come to practice implicit rationing in the form of under-the-table payments from patients, quasi-formal payments to providers to compensate for lack of funding, and long waiting lists forcing patients to the private sector. All these difficulties pose a challenge to the implementation of integrated care.
