The Region of Murcia, covering an area of 11,313 km² and home to over 1.5 million inhabitants, plays a significant role in Spain’s healthcare landscape. Representing 2.7% of Spain’s GDP in 2021, the region places strong emphasis on health as a priority within its Smart Specialization Strategy, known as RIS4MUR. At the forefront of public healthcare in Murcia is the Servicio Murciano de Salud (SMS), which manages nine health areas, ten public hospitals, more than 280 primary care centers, and three specialized centers, ensuring access to quality healthcare for its population.
A central challenge in this effort is personalizing healthcare for chronic diseases, especially epilepsy and chronic physical activity management. SMS, in collaboration with technology companies Evidenze Health España (formerly Pulso) and AicrumIT, is leading the development of ESFERA, a digital solution designed to promote prevention, personalize healthcare delivery, and empower patients and caregivers to manage their conditions.
ESFERA is a comprehensive digital platform that enables bidirectional communication between patients and healthcare professionals. However, to ensure optimal results, efforts are being made to improve digital literacy among end users, facilitating interaction with the platform.
Furthermore, to enhance disease prevention and patient self-management, the digital medical education division of Evidenze Health España will provide training to end users, leveraging innovative eLearning platforms and patient-centered applications. AicrumIT, in collaboration with Evidenze Health España, is developing cutting-edge features to enrich the telemedicine experience. Facilitating this collaborative effort is Ticbiomed, the regional digital health cluster, which coordinates regional activities and provides support to scale the solution.
AicrumIT and Evidenze Health España are working with SMS to develop an integrated platform aimed at improving the experience for both patients and healthcare professionals, thereby optimizing time and resources. They expect this collaboration to produce a product that significantly enhances the quality of life, facilitates monitoring, and allows for a better understanding of patients’ health status. The development of ESFERA aims to create a diverse telemedicine platform model that addresses current healthcare management challenges, with expected positive technical and social impacts that will benefit both SMS and its patients directly and indirectly.
Dr. Irene Villegas, a neurologist at the main hospital in Murcia (Hospital Virgen de la Arrixaca), emphasizes the importance of patient empowerment and comprehensive monitoring in chronic diseases such as epilepsy. ESFERA, she explains, offers an integrated solution that seamlessly fits into the hospital’s digital infrastructure.
For Tonny Velin, Product Owner at AicrumIT, ESFERA represents a paradigm shift in healthcare service delivery. With its simple and intuitive interface, the platform aims to revolutionize interactions between doctors and patients, ultimately improving the quality of care.
As the development phase of ESFERA nears completion, the focus is shifting to finalizing the platform’s functionalities and beginning user training for both healthcare professionals and patients who will participate in the pilot phase. With innovative features such as personalized patient tracking and flexible healthcare delivery, ESFERA promises to address current healthcare sector challenges, offering a user-centered and impactful solution.
In the coming months, as ESFERA enters its pilot phase, it will mark a significant milestone on the path toward the practical implementation and evaluation of this innovative solution in the healthcare sector, paving the way for a new era in healthcare management in Murcia.
