Deutsche Telekom Aims to Network Healthcare Intelligently

• Healthcare is a strategic growth area for Deutsche Telekom Group
• Mobile phone services, international business and partnerships are strategic cornerstones
• Deutsche Telekom at Medica: Hall 15, Stand A49

"Secure networking of physicians, hospitals, patients, and health insurers can cut the cost of healthcare, improve healthcare provision, and ease the lives of older and chronically ill people," said Dr. Axel Wehmeier. Speaking at Medica, the new head of the Group's strategic business area today unveiled Deutsche Telekom's future strategy for the healthcare sector.

"The market for networked ICT offerings will continue to grow strongly in healthcare as in other sectors," Wehmeier is convinced. But to do so, the technology needs to be put to large-scale use faster after successful pilot projects. It is also high time for IHE (Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise) to gain acceptance as a uniform data interchange standard. "What is more," he noted, "we need a mobile broadband network with full national coverage as a basis for new solutions."

Mobile Communications More Widespread in Healthcare Sector New mobile communications offerings are a cornerstone of Telekom's healthcare strategy. In T-City Friedrichshafen, doctors are already testing the diabetes management system GlucoTel. GlucoTel is a solution that relays blood glucose readings by Bluetooth from the patient's measuring device to his or her mobile phone and from the mobile automatically to an online diary. The portal uses the same security standards as in online banking. Only the patient and persons that he or she authorises can see the figures. Also undergoing trials in T-City is derButler, a mobile device that in response to pushbutton pressure can send an emergency call anytime, anywhere. If the user falls, the device automatically establishes a voice link to the emergency call centre. It also incorporates a three-stage positioning procedure that enables people to be found when other methods fail.

Smartphones, iPads Find Their Way into Day-to-day Hospital Work A cardiac pacemaker can maintain contact with a doctor, as demonstrated by the CardioMessenger, a device that patients constantly have with them. The device relays data on the condition of the patient's heart and pacemaker via the mobile communications network to a service centre. There the information is processed and stored on a secure website for the doctor who is treating the patient. In urgent cases the doctor can also be sent information by fax, e-mail or mobile phone. Another trend at hospitals is the use of smartphones or iPads. At Medica Telekom is exhibiting the Checkpad MED, a hospital app for the iPad. All of the data from the different hospital systems - the central information system, the radiology unit and laboratories - is relayed to the handy tablet device. Doctors thereby always have an up-to-date overview of all of the information about their patients.

Increased International Activities, Partner and Venture Strategy Telekom also aims to go international in the healthcare growth area. Country companies in Austria or Hungary are presenting at Medica developments such as the Fetaphone, with which pregnant women can record their unborn baby's heartbeat at home and send it to their doctor by mobile phone. "We will also market solutions from Germany jointly with our partners abroad," Wehmeier says. Cooperation arrangements are one way to complement the company's own portfolio. Telekom, he says, is open for partnerships of all kinds. It is also open for targeted venture activities. "We are strong in ICT, integration and networking. Our partners complement these competences with specialised industry expertise or medical hard- and software," said Telekom's Wehmeier. Software from the Net Another trend in healthcare is to break free from high-maintenance technology and outsource ICT and services. "Instead, companies obtain these services from the Internet and pay only for what they consume - just as for other materials at hospital or in the surgery," Wehmeier explains. Patients in turn benefit from access to their personal medical data everywhere. Furthermore, patients with chronic ailments can spare themselves unnecessary journeys to the doctor's surgery.

Deutsche Telekom is showcasing at Medica examples of Internet-based solutions and projects. Via a Unified Communications and Collaboration portal (UCC), general practitioners, medical specialists, hospitals, dispensing chemists, health insurers and patients can share information securely over the Net in the form of voice, video and image data and documents. Doctors, for example, can discuss with their patients via the UCC portal the course and progress of treatment and aftercare, thereby cutting travel expenses, reducing exertion and saving time.

Doctors can also use video conferencing to look simultaneously at findings data such as laboratory results or X-ray images and confer on the course of action to take. With Telekom operating the platform and supplying all the technology, no-one concerned needs to invest heavily in infrastructure and technology. What is, Telekom is responsible for data security as a trust centre and provides the data networks, technologies and service required. This solution is already in use at the Asklepios Future Hospital in Hamburg.

About Deutsche Telekom AG Deutsche Telekom is one of the world's leading integrated telecommunications enterprises with over 129 mobile phone customers and around 37 million fixed-line and 16 million broadband connections (as at 30 September 2010). The Group provides fixed-line, mobile phone, Internet and IPTV services for private customers and ICT solutions for large and business customers. Deutsche Telekom is represented in about 50 countries and has more than 250,000 employees around the world. In financial year 2009 the Group's sales revenue totalled €64.6 billion, of which more than half was earned in countries other than Germany (as at 31 December 2009).