Baxter Healthcare bags Health Products & Services trophy at HKB International Business Awards

The company won the award for their remote patient management platform.

Worldwide innovator in renal care Baxter Healthcare was recognised by Hong Kong Business magazine as they received the Health Products & Services trophy in the HKB International Business Awards 2020, for their revolutionary Sharesource platform, which transforms and streamlines healthcare management processes.

The awards programme acknowledges the most ground-breaking projects and most exceptional practices amongst international enterprises in Hong Kong.

"Whilst the global patient population requiring dialysis is growing, the number of clinicians and their resources are not increasing. For this reason, we are committed to transforming renal care through meaningful innovations like Sharesource that support better care options for both clinicians and patients,” Baxter Renal Care General Manager Laura Angelini said in a press release.

Introduced to the industry in June 2015, Sharesource is a cloud-based, bi-directional connectivity system that is equipped with the capacity to harness remote patient management (RPM) with peritoneal dialysis (PD) patients in a simple, straightforward and standardized fashion across dialysis units.

Although PD is effective for patients suffering from end-stage renal disease (ESRD) compared to hemodialysis (HD), the treatment is still plagued by challenges that remain unresolved. These include the absence of confidence when overseeing a PD machine without supervision as well as the lack of proactive solutions to issues surrounding PD.

With the onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic, ESRD patients also began to fear hospital visits due to the potential risk of coronavirus infection. This comes especially when there is no social distancing during consultations. The pandemic fortified the need for a platform such as Sharesource, which enables healthcare providers to manage home patients PD therapy from a distance.

Aside from playing a major role for ESRD patients during the COVID-19 crisis, the innovation has resulted in enhanced nursing efficiency and patient outcomes, which were achieved through RPM, which covered personalized PD patient prescriptions, early detection and prevention of possible PD complications.

Establishments that incorporated Sharesource also witnessed decreased costs in planned and unplanned hospital visits, reduced drop off, and a staggering growth in healthcare professional and patient and carer confidence when it comes to self-care.

More importantly, the project yielded in hospitalization cutbacks and observed cost reduction and asset utilisation. It was also able to cater to vital unmet demands of PD patients such as tracking patient adherence, preserving peritoneal function, appraising and monitoring fluid status, cutting down catheter complications, performing PD in far-flung locations safely and successfully as well as driving patient ratios to healthcare personnel.

Apart from this, hospital visits were also kept down to a minimum while being able to make the most out of digital connectivity.

The Sharesource platform was launched in 2015 in Hong Kong through Homechoice Clara, an automated peritoneal dialysis system that possesses a two-way cloud-based telehealth technology for ESRD home patients.

A first of its kind in the Asia Pacific, the system supplies timely data that can assist healthcare providers in remotely facilitating PD treatment with prescription modification. It also supports earlier intervention when clinical issues surface and inspires confidence when it comes to home therapies. 

The Hong Kong Business Awards 2020, presented by Hong Kong Business magazine, was held via video conferencing in September.

This year’s nominations were judged by a panel consisting of Eugene Liu, Managing Partner at RSM Hong Kong; Charbon Lo, Director at Crowe (HK) CPA Limited; Andy Wong, IPO Leader at SHINEWING (HK) CPA Limited; Anthony Tam, Executive Director at Mazars Hong Kong; and Edward Au, Managing Partner at Deloitte China.

If you would like to join the 2021 awards and be acclaimed as one of the outstanding companies in Hong Kong, please email Jane Patiag at [email protected].