It all starts with a doctor and a nurse in Codolet (680 people) in the South.
Who has not heard of the “medical emergency problem” in France? The long and sometimes dangerous wait for the patient, the state of pressure in which the hospital staff find themselves, the anxiety of relatives, the cost for the country … The number of emergency visits in France has doubled in in the space of 20 years, from 10 to 20 million visits (!), according to the report by the Drees (Directorate of Research, Studies, Evaluation and Statistics), which notes an increase of 3.5 % per year.
Compared to these statistics, if a general practitioner from a commune of less than 700 people in the Gard told you four years ago, that she was going, with a nursing colleague, to start out as a startuppeuse in order to unclog these services , you might have had some doubts about the feasibility. How are two basic health professionals going to set up a startup, and what’s more, find solutions to this seemingly vast problem?
It is nevertheless the true story of the young shoot, Focus Santé, chaired by Dr. Céline Jardy Triola and it is probably because they were unaware that it was impossible that they could move forward.
A former emergency doctor installed as a general practitioner in Codolet, Céline wanted to find team work and apply herself to solving medical problems on a larger scale than her individual practice. Thinking that digital could be the right way to reach these objectives, Céline and her colleague, Magali Diagne, are participating in a startup weekend, where they branch off from an initial project of medical file not original enough at Urgences Chrono, which seemed to respond to a real expectation.
On January 30, 2020, at the 30 th edition of the Festival de la Communication Santé, Focus Santé’s flagship application, Urgences Chrono, won the startup prize, chosen from several finalists by Internet users in the Club Digital Santé community.
Two months before in November 2019, Dr Jardy Triola had received from Cédric O a prize at the opening of the Women’s Forum in Paris, Urgences Chrono having been one of the three winning projects of the Club Génération Startuppeuse hackasprint.
What is Urgences Chrono?
Emergency professionals tell us; many of the people they see in the emergency room don’t need to be seen in the hospital. The ignorance by families of alternatives to the public hospital contributes singularly to the congestion of services. Depending on the location, there are medical houses and pharmacies on call, doctors on call, walk-in first aid centers, branches of SOS Doctors, private emergency services. The possibilities are poorly understood and the information evolving. How to correct the shooting?
Emergencies Chrono , site and mobile application, geolocates the user and indicates the services available to him, addresses, distance, opening hours, waiting times. The times, visualized by a color code (one hour, two hours, three hours, and more), are calculated by programs that follow patients from their reception and according to the different stages of their passage.
Before creating their application, the founders benchmark their idea and discover applications that offer this type of service in French-speaking Switzerland. The Geneva hospital federates nearby clinics. Lausanne offers another application.
Céline and Magali decide to go for it. Practicing their profession as health professionals in the field, they know the structures. They meet with SAMUs, establishments, national and regional professional orders, Regional Health Agencies, etc. The startup must establish all the contacts that will allow Urgences Chrono to collect and keep up-to-date with the right information. In addition to meeting healthcare players, the startup is taking shape, thanks to networks, incubators, the entire FrenchTech ecosystem.
It was necessary to create a first basic version of the Emergency Chrono service, with no precise idea concerning monetization. Today, possibilities are beginning to emerge concerning the enrichment of the application and the creation of value for health partners. Mutuals may want to offer the service to their policyholders. Regional Health Agencies could use the application to better manage resources, since emergency room visits cost the system, on average, seven times more than a doctor on call.
A collaboration with the ARS du Grand Est has started. The launch by the Ministry of Health of the Care Access Service, a telephone and online platform, planned for summer 2020, could generate opportunities for collaboration. If their artificial intelligence projects are successful, Urgences Chrono will be able to help establishments anticipate demand in the emergency room.
Today, the Focus Santé management team has four partners with complementary skills, Céline Jardy Triola, doctor, André Marvie IT developer, Marjorie Soulier, communication specialist, and Alexandre Gadreau, business developer. The first fundraisers enabled the company to lay the groundwork, hire a team and create the essentials. Other collections will follow. It is a story of hope at all levels, for the creators and their startup, for the healthcare system and its professionals, for patients and families.
