Catalonia.health and IDIAP Jordi Gol have organized the Healthcare Connection – Primary Care Edition conference on June 18, "Unsolved clinical needs: the vision from primary care", a meeting that has brought primary care centers into contact with companies and entrepreneurs willing to respond to some of the most relevant clinical and operational challenges in the sector.

The event also marked a milestone for the series: Hospital Connection is now renamed Healthcare Connection. The change responds to the desire to expand the scope of the conferences, which until now had focused on the needs of the large Catalan hospitals, to include other key players in the health system such as primary care. The dynamic of the sessions, however, remains intact: experts from the collaborating center present real and unsolved challenges, and attending companies explore possible collaborations to turn them into solutions.

The day opened with the institutional welcome of Roser Alba, Project coordinator of Catalonia.health, and Josep Basora, director of the IDIAP Jordi Gol, who highlighted the role of primary care as the area of ​​the health system that has the closest vision to citizens.

Next, David Verde, IDIAPJGOL's Innovation Coordinator, presented the center's Living Lab, and Marc Casajuana, also from the Innovation area, moderated the presentation of six clinical challenges identified from primary care centers:

1. Mobile cognitive and functional screening in residences and rural areas

2. Digital support for the management of atrial fibrillation

3. Integrated solution for dermatoscopy and teledermatology in primary care

4. Dynamic adjustment of Primary Care agendas

5. Creation of a physical simulation and training center for primary care

6. Rapid identification of changes in sputum staining in patients with COPD

Then, six companies have presented their solution proposals for each of these challenges: Ephion Health (cognitive and functional screening), RC Technology (atrial fibrillation), Eurecat (dermatoscopy and teledermatology), Imaginae (schedule adjustment), Biorem (simulation and training center) and Kriba (changes in the color of sputum in COPD patients). The session, moderated by Roser Alba, concluded with a question-and-answer session that allowed us to delve deeper into some of the proposals presented.

The event has stood out for its direct, practical and action-oriented format, designed to generate a true match between the real demand of care centers and the solutions that can be offered by the business and entrepreneurial fabric. Catalonia.health will monitor the connections made during the day, with the expectation that they will result in concrete collaborations and, ultimately, in real improvements for the primary care system.

Catalonia.health would like to thank the passion and commitment of all the speakers, both the representatives of the primary care centers who presented the challenges, and the companies who shared their proposed solutions.