Read here what's moving us right now.

Completely digital clinical studies at MEDIACC: innovative, efficient and people-oriented through cutting-edge technology

MEDIACC is defining the future of digital clinical trials by implementing international laws and recommendations, in particular the EMA guideline for computer-based systems, for clinical trials.

In a lighthouse project, we successfully carried out a completely digital study, which recruited over 2000 study participants to test an innovative health app using a telemedicine approach. The digital study platform integrates an electronic data collection system (EDC) with additional digital modules and newly thought-out proven processes to ensure the highest quality and reliability of study data in an excellent study design. Automatic processing and validation controls and data management are just a few aspects that inspire us.

In doing so, we preserve the rights, dignity and safety and ensure the well-being of study participants. At the same time, this enables us to continue working for efficiency and excellence, decent working conditions and improved medical care. The established and certified standards are now being transferred to the next digital decentralized studies for important medical devices. Our high security measures are always risk-based, adapted to the individual requirements of each study and implement the high European requirements for data security and data protection.

Would you like to shape the future of clinical trials? If you want to be part of this scalable development, we offer you the ideal solution for your clinical trial.

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An overview of our current studies can be found here: https://www.mediacc.de/studien/aktuelle-studien-fur-studieninteressierte

Digital elements to reduce stress and relieve caregivers

Bureaucracy and lack of transparency weigh on people in need of care. A representative survey by the SVDGV shows the potential of digital solutions.

The representative survey by the Spitzenverband Digitale Gesundheitsversorgung e.V. (SVDGV) in Germany shows that bureaucracy and non-transparent communication with health insurance companies place a burden on people in need of care and their relatives. The survey of 2500 people, including people in need of care and their relatives, reveals that 60 percent find the bureaucratic effort involved in contact with health insurance companies burdensome, followed closely by a lack of information and advice on care services. This is a dire situation for the weakest in our society.

The survey also shows that many affected people want transparency and information about digital care options. Nevertheless, 44 percent said they did not know what options digital applications offer for assessing care levels. 33 percent of respondents already see the opportunity that digital tools can enable a faster assessment of the level of care and expect that stress with medical services can be reduced through digital applications.

The initiators emphasize the need to implement digital solutions in care in order to make processes more transparent and improve the satisfaction of people in need of care and their relatives. They are calling for specific framework conditions and remuneration regulations to enable the integration of digital care in a timely manner. More information can be found on the SVDGV website.

We are looking forward to the first digital products that scientifically prove the benefits for these vulnerable people.

Practice-oriented medical education to strengthen scientific competence

The Association of Scientific Medical Societies (AWMF) is committed to more intensive teaching of scientific competence in medical studies. Medical students and the AWMF emphasize the need to receive sound scientific education during their studies. Recent surveys show that many students find current scientific education inadequate. The AWMF demands uniform requirements nationwide for teaching scientific competence and underlines the importance of these skills for doctors in various fields of activity. Both medical students and the AWMF welcome the planned reform of medical education, which provides for more intensive scientific education. The Medical Faculty Day (MFT) also supports the demands for increased transfer of scientific competence during studies and sees this as a necessary step to ensure high-quality patient care. The draft of the new medical licensing regulations provides for the preparation of a scientific paper during studies, which is positively received by many students. The AWMF also pleads for clinical research to be recognized as an integral part of continuing medical education. (From German Medical Center 2023; 120 (48): A-2042 /B-1734 by Dr. med. Eva Richter-Kuhlmann)

Green clinical trials: A sustainable case for decentralized digital clinical trials

Digitalization has finally arrived in the heavily regulated field of clinical trials. Decentralized digital clinical trials (DDKT) are revolutionizing how evidence is generated for new medical treatments. Although DDKT is known to be faster, more cost-effective and accessible to more groups of people, there is still skepticism due to the supposed technical complexity. We were able to show a previously unexplored aspect of the digitization of clinical trials: energy and CO₂-Savings compared to traditional studies. We were able to show this in the renowned journal PLOS Digit Health 2 (10).

Traditional clinical trials use significant amounts of paper and energy for forms, questionnaires, visits to study sites, and monitoring visits. The complete digitization of a clinical trial results in a 90.1% reduction in CO compared to a traditional study₂emissions, which corresponds to around 4,399 kg CO2 — or a long-haul flight of 24,000 km (around Berlin — Australia back and forth) — and would require 237 trees to grow for a year to remove this CO₂-Balancing emissions.

The results of our study therefore make it imperative to consider sustainability even when planning and carrying out clinical trials. Depending on the study, complete digitization does not always make sense, but hybrid approaches offer a realistic solution when different degrees of decentralization and digitization are used. Our estimates show that switching to such approaches in around 15,000 clinical trials per year in Europe could potentially save between 41,009 and 65,981 tons of CO₂ would have. Given the EU's goal of becoming climate-neutral by 2050, regulators, politicians, funding agencies, healthcare companies and researchers should intensify joint efforts to safely make this environmentally friendly approach possible.

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Exciting news in healthcare

The planned Health Care Digitalization Act (DigiG) provides for expanding the use of video consultations and televisitation. Until now, video consultations were limited to a maximum of 30 percent of medical services, but this limit is now to be lifted. In future, the remuneration of video consultations will be based on quality features in order to ensure high-quality use, instead of just enabling quantitative expansion. Telemedicine services that integrate structured care processes and are well integrated into other care processes should be paid preferentially. The specific remuneration for teleconsults is determined through negotiations between the Federal Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians (KBV) and the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Funds. The aim of this Act is to strengthen video consultations and teleconsulates as established forms of medical care and to promote their integration into the digital infrastructure, including electronic health records (ePA). It is expected that reports on the use of telemedicine care will be available by June 1, 2024. Stay tuned for more updates on these exciting advancements in healthcare! 💡💻

We're back: Berliner Hoffest 2023

MEDIACC has once again secured a place at the Berlin Court Festival at the Red Town Hall this year. With around 3,500 guests from a wide variety of sectors — sports, business, politics, science, culture and more — this largest Berlin networking event will also be a colorful evening for us and our own guests with exciting conversations and good entertainment!

Unbeatable together in Berlin

Die Special Olympics World Games am vergangenen Wochenende haben wieder einmal eindrücklich das große Potenzial außergewöhnlicher Menschen gezeigt. Aus der ganzen Welt kamen Sportlerinnen und Sportler mit ihren Familien und Freunden nach Berlin, um freundschaftlich miteinander zu wetteifern und zu feiern. Wir von MEDIACC machen Studien für Menschen, die über ihre Grenzen hinausgehen – für Innovationen, die besonderen Menschen helfen, ihre Talente voll einzusetzen!

AHA gegen KI-Einsatz

Vergangene Woche haben wir vier Abstracts für verschiedene nationale und internationale Kongresse eingereicht. Wir waren fasziniert, dass die AHA als eine von mehreren Institutionen Autoren und Autorinnen wissenschaftlicher Beiträge zur Anzeige der (Nicht-)Nutzung von künstlicher Intelligenz (KI) verpflichtet und diese Information transparent und explizit in der Publikation wissenschaftlicher Beiträge ausweist.

MEDIACC steht für den Einsatz menschlichen wissenschaftlichen Sachverstandes und biologischer Intelligenz unter Berücksichtigung aktuellster Studienergebnisse, was bis dato für KI-bots, deren Funktion auf der Stochastik von Wortnennungen möglich ist.

Volle Power am Global Running Day

Auch im Jahr 2023 hat MEDIACC wieder erfolgreich an der Berliner 5x5-Teamstaffel teilgenommen. Mit 2 Teams, insgesamt 10 Läuferinnen und Läufern und vielköpfiger moralischer Unterstützung wurde bei schweißtreibenden 28 Grad die Strecke durch den Tiergarten bewältigt.

Die Stimmung war famos und der Zusammenhalt spürbar, sodass es nach dem gemeinsamen Picknick auf der Wiese für alle spät wurde. Wir freuen uns auf weitere gemeinsame Sportevents in der Zukunft, um Fitness und Teamgeist hochzuhalten!

Infotag: Klinische Studien auf dem Leipziger Platz in Berlin

Der diesjährige „Internationale Tag der Klinischen Forschung“ findet am 20. Mai statt. Auf dem Leipziger Platz in Berlin wird es dazu einen Infotag geben, der allen Interessierten die Möglichkeit bietet, sich zum Thema Klinische Forschung zu informieren.

Nähere Infos zum Event finden Sie hier.