Medical biology: A “high voltage” sector

Dr Jean-Luc Dourson, dirigeant-fondateur, BioneXt LAB
By EBRC 06/11/2018
Health & Life Sciences
Energy, Logistics & Industry

Improving the quality of care provided to patients, optimizing the services put at the disposal of the medical staff, bearing a growing budget pressure, the medical biology analysis sector is going through far-reaching changes. Focus on myLAB®, a digital health ecosystem developed by the BioneXt LAB, a medical analysis laboratory and an open-ended communication interface between health professionals and patients.

For Dr Jean-Luc Dourson, founder and director of BioneXt LAB, medical biology is more than ever a sector with a future. “Medical analysis is a key element of the healthcare process, as the medical biologist and laboratory analysis contribute to the disease diagnosis and the treatment monitoring in nearly 70% of the cases.”

Private medical biology is nonetheless a highly competitive sector under pressure – particularly as regards pricing. New regulations have led to a significant drop in the number of prescriptions. “Even if the nomenclature of analysis laboratories had to be revised because it had become totally outdated in structural and medico-technical terms, it is so complex that it is nearly impossible for a doctor to know whether the analyses he prescribes will be reimbursed by the health insurance scheme,” Dr Dourson continues. Apart from the fact that medical analysis laboratories have no alternative but to invoice the patient for the part not reimbursed by the CNS [Luxembourgish health service] under the third-party payment system, the new prescription rules are also detrimental to the doctor’s freedom of therapeutic choice.

The Luxembourgish laboratory BioneXt LAB relies on three strategic lines of approach to boost its growth: digitization, service harmonization and virtual reality.

“Our laboratory processes deal with highly sensitive health data. With EBRC we have a reliable partner who understands the specific challenges of our business,” says Dr Jean-Luc Dourson, founder and director of BioneXt LAB.

Electronic prescription as a response to the complexification of the nomenclature

BioneXt LAB has just integrated the electronic prescription in myLAB®, its open-ended communication interface between laboratories, doctors, health professionals and patients. The founder and director of BioneXt LAB adds: “EBRC solution ensures that the IT infrastructure of our laboratory properly works so that we can provide reliable, highly available service to our doctors and patients.” Doctors can henceforth generate an electronic prescription based on the nomenclature rules in force. The cost for the patient is automatically calculated, and payment agreements for patients and any other consent forms are likewise automatically generated. The relevance of the myLAB® solution is already reflected in its integration in the whole software of the medical practices.

New testing services with Picken Doheem

BioneXt LAB aspires to deploy, through its collaborative approach, analysis tools and related services as part of an unremitting improvement process in the service provided to the patients.
This is how “Picken Doheem” came to life: the first and only mobile blood test service free of charge in Luxembourg to be carried out at home and according to an intermittent schedule.

“Upon arriving at the end of a modernization process, we made the decision to bring all the testing services linked to BioneXt LAB under the Picken Doheem banner. With Picken Doheem, you can get tested wherever you like: at your home, at your work, or in one of our 40 test centres,” adds Dr Dourson.

Virtual reality for those suffering from blood test phobia

Researches show that 5% to 10% of the population suffer from various degrees of trypanophobia, more commonly known as the needle fear. For these people, a blood test is a real ordeal. To help them, Picken Doheem equipped its blood test centres (Luxembourg Belair, Heisdorf and Schifflange) with virtual reality helmets.

To do so, BioneXt LAB entered into a partnership with Oncomfort, a start-up specialized in virtual reality for clinical purposes to develop a multilingual application (including Luxembourgish and Portuguese).
This anxiety and pain management solution combines approved treatment approaches and virtual reality. The drop in the level of emotional stress due to a blood test is estimated at 82%. An ad hoc application for children as of the age of 6 is used to carry out blood tests in two minutes without the child noticing anything whatsoever.

A sector with a future

“Whether in terms of economic constraints which abruptly change or the galloping pace of technological progress, the medical analysis sector faces many challenges. Medical biology is a sector with a future given its growing importance in medical diagnosis and as regards the integration of new technologies. At BioneXt LAB, we have decided to consider this particularly challenging environment as an opportunity to stand out thanks to the relevance of the solutions and services we provide to doctors and patients. Our digital transformation is in line with the 4P medical model: Preventive, Participatory, Predictive and Personalized. The added value of inventiveness undoubtedly resides in its utility as a tool for expanding the patient base, but it is above all a vector for improving the care provided to patients by health professionals. We are all concerned as potential patients ourselves”, concludes Dr Dourson.

About BioneXt LAB

BioneXt LAB is a Luxembourgish medical biology analysis laboratory. Since June 2, 2017, BioneXt LAB has been equipped with a new technical platform for analyses that can cover all the medical biology needs and comply with the latest changes in quality standards.

BioneXt LAB uses this platform to carry out laboratory tests for ambulant patients from the CHEM (Emile Mayrisch Medical Centre) and the Picken Doheem network.
BioneXt LAB is characterized by a decidedly cooperative approach geared to deploying analysis tools and related services so as to improve the care provided to patients by the clinician.