Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
TABLE 12.1 (Continued)
Interview Results: Summary of Role and Main Concerns Envisioned by Different Actors with Regard to Social Embedding Process of
Visionary BAN Applications in Health Care
Actor
Description
Main
concerns
Market share is one of the largest concerns all health-care insurance companies in the Netherlands face in a price/
premium-sensitive market environment. This restricts health-care insurance companies from taking initiatives that
threaten them to raise their premiums (cf. invest in new innovations). At the same time, there are huge concerns
about the spiraling costs in health-care mainly due to shifting demographics.
Concerns about the effectiveness of BAN devices in practice. Lack of sufficient evidence that new innovations like the
BAN concept will drive down the costs of the health-care system. Huge time and resources have to be spent in
clinical trials to collect such evidence.
Concerns about lack of trust of patients and health-care providers in incentives of health-care insurance companies.
Creation of more transparency through interactions with other actors in the health-care chain is crucial in the future
to improve the image of health-care insurance companies.
Tele-health
centers
Envisioned
role
Envision a role of data hub between patients and medical professionals by providing information security and
management.
Main
concerns
Concerns about lack of concrete protocols describing roles and responsibilities of different parties regarding the access,
reliability of information.
Concerns related to lack of standards related to processing data and storing information generated by BAN devices.
Since the hospital databases across the country have no definitive/common structure of information storage and
processing, that may lead to practical problems.
Domotica and
home
automation
consultancies
Envisioned
role
Envision a role to provide and install the necessary equipment at patients home.
Main
concerns
Concerns about lack of communication between industry and health-care providers and consultancies to articulate
roles and responsibilities.
Network
providers
Envisioned
role
Envision the role of providing the physical network infrastructure and other IT services to implement reliable services
in health care.
Main
concerns
Concerns about the complexities and liability issues in case of mistakes or malfunctioning of the systems.
