Background:
From January 2023, CCPP was incorporated in Casa di Cura IGEA
Casa di Cura IGEA is a fully integrated multi-speciality clinical centre based in the centre of Milan in Italy. It provides both inpatient and outpatient services mainly for neurological patients. The Centre is a 136-bed rehabilitation clinic with a 12-bed day hospital facility. It acts as a Department of Neurorehabilitation Sciences, accredited by the Italian National Health System and supported economically by Regione Lombardia. The Department is composed of three 45-bed Units for hospital stay and four clinical services. The clinical services are neuropsychology, phoniatry (speech), neuro-ophthalmology, and psychiatry. The Centre can refer patients for treatments that include internal radiology (including CT scans and MRI), laboratory services for biological analysis, technogyms, and swimming pool rehabilitation facilities.
What the Casa di Cura IGEA is doing:
eHealth activities at Casa di Cura IGEA are driven by three aims. They are to:
- bring innovation into clinical practice in order to stratify the population (and, thus, to enhance personalised medicine),
- test new methods and tools for rehabilitation (e.g., robotics, wearable sensors, and exergames),
- provide integrated care services (i.e., continuity of care from clinic to home).
Casa di Cura IGEA’s eHealth activities are enhanced by four types of laboratories:
- “Motion Lab” which is the Movement Opportunities and Technology Innovations for Neurorehabilitation LABoratory. This is a joint laboratory with the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna di Pisa that assesses and enhances recovery of autonomy of the patient.
- “Living Lab” which provides a “home environment” inside the clinic. It is the place where occupational therapy treatments and Health Technology Assessment can be performed on new devices at a pre-commercial stage.
- “Neurobiology Lab” in Translational Medicine. This lab studies protein expression levels in patients affected by neurological disorders (both before and after neurorehabilitation) and tests the effects of drug treatments on molecular signalling.
- Biobank, where biological samples are collected from neurological patients.
All these activities are supported by a solid ICT infrastructure. Activities range from classification of patients from a clinical perspective (through an electronic health record) to the research perspective (through an electronic case report form (eCRF)).
This focus on digital health enables Casa di Cura IGEA to participate in a wide range of research projects. The research comprises both internally sponsored (not-for-profit) research and projects financed by both public and private institutions .
The public research includes institutions such as the European Commission, the Lombardy region, and research foundations. The private institutions encompass pharmaceutical and technological companies.
Casa di Cura IGEA is a longstanding member of EHTEL.
