Leveraging from the SatNav E@syCare Experience in COVID-19 Pandemic Towards an Extensive Use of Telemedicine in Chronic Patients Long-Term Care Model

The current COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated the use of digital technologies, in all sectors and in particular in healthcare. In this scenario, in fact, telemedicine systems have been adopted to remotely monitor and manage infected patients or patients subjected to quarantine regulations. In Tuscany region, Italy, SatNav E@syCare, a telemonitoring platform resulted from the integration of E@syCare, designed for chronic patients, and satellite technologies, has been experimented, receiving positive feedback both from doctors and patients. Such a system could be used also in long-term care, for monitoring chronic patients, providing characterisation and customisation of medical devices according to the patients’ chronic conditions and implementing an expert system, which generates personalised monitoring and treatment plans, to support physicians at the moment of enrolment. The pandemic experience could then be a lesson learnt promoting the adoption of smart telemedicine platforms for the care of chronic patients.