adopter site and analysing how to improve and
adjust the existing infrastructure;
Setting up working groups that analyse the
innovative solution and detect what changes or
improvements are necessary;
Translating content into the language of adopter
site (e.g., in mobile applications or portals);
Planning and designing future implementation
(e.g., creating roadmaps and study
methodologies on how to involve more citizens
and stakeholders); and
Finding sponsors for and implementing a small-
scale pilot e.g., at a hospital level.
The twinning organisations that successfully
implemented the innovative practice given the
twinning timeframe were able to do so due to the lack
of political or financial barriers even before the
twinning. In these cases, the organisations were able
to already focus on expanding their reach of potential
users (through publishing in magazines; using social
networks; using colourful, captivating icons in their
health platforms to attract a wider audience; etc.).
One of the success stories is the MASK Allergy
Diary twinning action, which was fully implemented
(full acquisition) initially by 10 adopter regions
during the twinning scheme (empirica, 2017)
followed by altogether 30 adopter regions (Bousquet,
2017). MASK Allergy Diary is a tool that enables
citizens to assess and control allergic rhinitis, and
supports pharmacists, physicians and specialists in
prescribing appropriate treatment and follow-ups.
Through the outreach of the adopter Reference Sites
(who aimed to recruit at least 50 elderly persons ≥65
years and at least 100 adults <65 years in more than
20 countries) the twinning allowed the originator to
study, compare, and analyse the differences in the
characteristics of rhinitis and asthma multimorbidity
among different age groups across different countries
(Bousquet, 2017). This twinning action not only
provided more citizens with access to a proven
allergy management tool, but also gave way to
multiple avenues of future research on rhinitis and
asthma that can be gained from the collected data.
Most of the twinnings led to an adoption of
elements of the innovation using the local
infrastructure (partial adoption). Partial adoption did
not necessarily mean an incomplete adoption. In
some cases, a partial adoption was preferred over a
full adoption since an efficient local infrastructure
was already in place in the adopter region. An
example of a success story of partial adoption is the
Andalusia-Zagreb twinning (empirica, 2017). The
adopter (Zagreb) participated in the twinning to find
digital solutions related to AHA that could be piloted
or implemented in the Zagreb RS. The twinning
enabled the Zagreb RS to co-develop workshops with
primary care physicians and ICT service providers in
order to find the best ways to implement elements of
the Diraya eHealth system (Regional Ministry of
Health Andalucia, 2016) to the Croatian healthcare
ecosystem. As a result, a set of modules was added to
the already existing health service of the adopter,
Zdravlje.net. The e-Consultation module was one of
the notable elements implemented through the
twinning. It fostered collaboration between cure and
care sectors and thus provides a multidimensional
approach to managing patients. Through this module,
each patient can receive recommendations for
managing a specific health issue based on the
multidisciplinary interaction of general practitioners
and hospital specialists. The number of citizens using
Zdravlje.net has been increasing and strongly
indicates possibilities to reach out to all current
inhabitants of Zagreb.
3.3 Benefits and New Opportunities
The adopter organisations have identified a number
of benefits and new opportunities resulting from the
adoption of digital innovations through the twinning
actions. The specific examples below are meant to
provide a better understanding of the benefits
experienced mostly by the adopter region. These
examples are not exhaustive.
Better Healthcare Service – for example, the
Basque Country Risk Stratification Tool (Orueta, et
al., 2013) enables patients with specific diseases to be
identified, selected, and precisely grouped, giving the
patient a more coordinated, proactive, and
personalised level of healthcare. The tool also collects
demographic, socioeconomic and clinical variables
from sources such as the Department of Health into
summarised, relevant information that supports
healthcare providers in their clinical decisions.
Timely Diagnosis and Better Screening – The
Quick Mild Cognitive Impairment (Qmci) screening
application (Collaboration on Ageing, 2016) has been
developed as a computerised application that reduced
paper work and data entry, and generated a more
accessible and flexible screening process. It will be
used to rapidly identify patients with Mild Cognitive
Impairment and dementia who can benefit from early
intervention.
Better Communication between Professional
and Patient/Patient's Family – The Andalusian
Telecare Service (SAT) (ASSDA, 2016) has enabled
easier and more personal communication between
doctor and patient due to its easily accessible setup: a