docdok.health Announces Partnership With Leading German Medical Association
Basel - 02/15/2021 — How long does the corona vaccination actually protect? Does it also work against the new coronavirus variants? Are there differences in vaccines? To tackle these important questions, the international-award-winning Swiss / Israeli digital health start-up docdok.health entered an exclusive partnership with the German umbrella organization of specialized physicians (SpiFa) and its 100% subsidiary, the German Institute for Specialist Health Services Research (DIFA).
docdok.health has developed DIFA1, a GDPR-compliant app to accompany healthcare professionals after their COVID-19 vaccinations, while SpiFa and DIFA will distribute the DIFA1 app for free to its 160,000 medical professional members. Through the use of the app, healthcare professionals will document the effectiveness and safety of the vaccination they received in a simple, fast, and secure manner. The data will be used for a transparent evaluation of the vaccination within the framework of a study carried out by DIFA, in line with the German national COVID-19 vaccination strategy outlined by the German Federal Ministry of Health (BMG).
The first wave of vaccinations against COVID-19 has started in Germany and doctors and their (practice) teams are among the prioritized recipients of the new vaccines due to their increased exposure risk and systemic relevance. At the same time, there are far-reaching public discussions regarding the safety of the hurriedly developed vaccines that are used in the fight against COVID-19. There are also questions about the effectiveness against the constantly upcoming new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) variants as well as about the duration and strength of protection against infection after vaccination. “DIFA as part of the SpiFa would like to use the DIFA1 app to contribute to the broad collection and evaluation of vaccination data for the general good in accordance with the national COVID-19 vaccination strategy of the BMG,” explains Patrick Lieberkuehn, Managing Director of DIFA. To this end, the DIFA and its technology and innovation partner docdok.health Ltd. (AG) will provide all doctors of SpiFa member associations and their employees the DIFA1 app free of charge. Dr. Ulrich Muehlner, co-founder and CEO of docdok.health, explains: “With the DIFA1 app, possible (side) effects of the vaccination can be easily documented after a secure two-factor authentication. All relevant information is requested at the right time via an intelligent chatbot. This enables targeted and user-friendly data collection at regular intervals from the day of the first vaccination. In this way, a reliable database is collected quickly and easily, which also provides qualified and comprehensible information on effectiveness over a period of 12 months after the vaccination.” The answers are recorded in a structured manner and with the consent of the user, de-identified and transmitted to DIFA. The data could also be made available to national healthcare institutions like the Robert-Koch-Institute (RKI) and the Paul-Ehrlich-Institute (PEI).
The SpiFa, as the largest umbrella organization of medical specialist in Germany, expressly supports this project and sees the DIFA1 app as an essential contribution to overcoming the coronavirus pandemic, as – combined with the explicit call to all doctors and their employees to get vaccinated – it is in the interest of the general public to generate more transparency regarding the effectiveness and safety of the COVID-19 vaccines.
Dr. med. Yves Nordmann, co-founder and Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of docdok.health adds: “With the expected results, we can hopefully dispel existing reservations amongst the population and achieve wider acceptance of the vaccination. After launching similar projects in other countries, we are hopeful that by launching DIFA1 app together with our partners SpiFa and DIFA, we will make a valuable contribution to the fight against the coronavirus.” According to all those involved, the DIFA1 app would be suitable for extension to enable further use by patients. Significant added-value would be created by appropriate integrations, for example, with the vaccination appointment booking systems or by offering the possibility of taking an anamnesis before vaccination.
The partnership with SpiFa and DIFA for the DIFA1 app is not the first major project in connection with the coronavirus crisis for docdok.health which was voted among the top 3 “Swiss Digital Healthcare Startups” last year. In Austria, the company supports the Vinzenz Group – one of the leading private clinic providers in the country – with a comprehensive telemedical solution under the name "Ambulanz Online". In another project at the University Hospital Zurich (USZ) – in cooperation with IBM and ETH and supported by AstraZeneca – docdok.health contributes its technology platform to run a study in which doctors are following-up COVID-19 patients at home after discharge from the hospital.
The DIFA1 app is based on the medical device certified DiGA1 app developed by docdok.health in cooperation with DIFA. DiGA1 is an appointment preparation app designed to provide improved anamnesis and patient support between medical consultations. The app concept and delivery are based on the Digital Healthcare Act (DVG) and will be available as a reimbursable medical product in the German healthcare system in Q2 2021. The DiGA1 "App on Prescription" drastically improves accompaniment of patients before and after their use of medical services and optimizes patient-facing processes.
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About docdok.health:
docdok.health is a Swiss / Israeli company that develops personalized, evidence-based and cost-efficient digital health solutions. As a company that won multiple international awards, docdok.health established a first-class partnership network in a short time and was the first European startup to be accepted as a partner at the renowned ARC of the Sheba Medical Center. Their GDPR-compliant digital communication solutions connect healthcare professionals and patients and improve medical care quality based on patient-generated health data. Leading hospitals and hospital groups as well as pharmaceutical and medical technology companies in several countries already successfully use docdok.health solutions. docdok.health also develops regulatory-approved DiGAs (digital health applications ) as medical products, such as DiGA1 in partnership with SpiFa and DIFA. docdok.health was founded by Dr. Yves Nordmann, a practicing doctor and successful serial entrepreneur in the healthcare sector (Welldoc, Oviva, E-Medicus), and Dr. Ulrich Muehlner, former top management consultant of the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and senior executive at Novartis, who together have over 20 years of experience in the digitalization of the healthcare sector.
Contact for inquiries about docdok.health Ltd (AG): Dr. Ulrich Muehlner, Chairman of the Board / CEO, ulrich.muehlner@docdok.health
About DIFA and SpiFa:
The German Institute for Specialist Health Services Research GmbH (DIFA) is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Spitzenverband Fachärzte Deutschlands eV (National Association of Specialists in Germany, SpiFa), founded in 2015. SpiFa is the largest umbrella organization of specialists in clinics and practices in Germany. With currently 32 member associations of almost all disciplines, SpiFa represents the overarching interests of more than 160,000 medical specialists. The DIFA Institute considers itself as a pioneer for physician-driven health-services research in clinics and practices, where the authority over the use of the data lies with the specialists and independent medical associations themselves. Their aim is to connect professionals in an interdisciplinary way to health-services research and to create possibilities for answering multidisciplinary questions based on data.
Contact for inquiries about DIFA: Patrick Lieberkühn, Managing Director, p.lieberkuehn@difa-vf.de
Contact for inquiries about SpiFa: Lars Lindemann, Managing Director, lars.lindemann@spifa.de
Media Contacts:
Company Name: docdok.health AGFull Name: Yves Nordmann
Phone: +41 22 508 74 15
Email Address: Send Email
Website: www.docdok.health