Israeli clinics are more sophisticated than German clinics in terms of digital patient information, telemedicine, and artificial intelligence. But, Tel Aviv's specialists also rely on the Charité in Berlin.
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| German healthcare vs Israeli healthcare |
For years, German experts have viewed Israel as a health policy pioneer, citing completely computerized patient information, physicians, health insurance firms, pharmacies accessible through mobile phone app, and no paper immunization cards anywhere in the country.
The Israeli population is substantially younger than the German population, which is nearly 45 years old, with an average age of 30. But, even in the Jewish state, there is a scarcity of nurses and physicians, and the need is rising.
Israel is likewise adjusting its healthcare system to an older culture by enabling computers to handle as many duties as feasible. In Berlin, Yitshak Kreiss, director of the Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, near Tel Aviv, and Heyo Kroemer, chairman of the Charité, discussed this.
"Germany and Israel are experiencing the same issues in terms of how to care for more older people with fewer workers," Kreiss explained. "We're seeking for worldwide partners so we can test technologies outside of Israel - and we've found a great partner in the Charité."
Digitalization in Israeli healthcare
In Israel, unlike in Germany, video consultation hours have long been customary. Patients are advised to examine themselves through telemedicine. Although the Germans fiddled with frayed vaccine leaflets, the corona immunization campaign in Israel proceeded digitally from invitation to confirmation. In November, Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) described Israel as a "role model in digitalization" at a World Health Organization (WHO) conference in Tel Aviv.
Despite this, Sheba CEO Kreiss believes in the Charité: "In the next years, we will benefit from the data, expertise, and innovations of our two clinics, and we have the potential for true breakthroughs."
Sheba Medical Center, with almost 10,000 personnel and 2,000 beds, is Israel's largest hospital. The Charité, with its subsidiaries, employs over 21,000 people. It is Europe's largest university hospital, with 3,100 beds.
Kreiss and Kroemer signed a memorandum of agreement in Ramat Gan in November 2022, advocating for the transfer of innovation between their universities, notably in neuroscience, radiology, and long-term care research.
Given the growing demand for healthcare, it is becoming increasingly vital to anticipate illness risks, provide individualized prevention, and better understand the impacts of medicines. This necessitates the use of comparable data.
Artificial intelligence in medicine
It's challenging in Germany, however things are improving. Patient files are frequently still kept on paper, the systems of almost 100 health insurance companies are not always interoperable, and rigorous laws make information interchange difficult for clinics.
In addition to data analysis and telemedicine, Israeli healthcare planners are focusing on the application of artificial intelligence (AI). For many years, software has been able to identify more cancers than oncologists. Some Israeli med-tech start-ups are investigating ways to improve the evaluation of digital pictures.
In this context, Sheba CEO Kreiss is referring to strokes, which are one of the most prevalent causes of mortality in the Western world, incur huge expenditures, and are frequently treated improperly. Brain scan pictures might be evaluated considerably more effectively with the aid of AI.
Yitshak Kreiss is a medical disaster response expert who served as the Israeli army's head physician. Heyo Kroemer is a pharmacologist who formerly led the Göttingen University Medicine before joining the Charité.
Source: TAGESSPIEGEL