Bringing Digital Treatment Processes into Healthcare Delivery

Chronic conditions shape everyday life – not appointment schedules. Yet medical care is still largely tied to individual doctor visits. What happens between these appointments often goes unnoticed, even though this is precisely where uncertainty arises and treatment decisions are made in daily life. Martin Eberhart, Chief Commercial Officer at Doctor.One, explains why continuity is crucial for the care of people with chronic conditions – and how it can be implemented in practice.

Mr. Eberhart, why does the traditional, visit-based healthcare system reach its limits when it comes to chronic conditions?

The system is historically designed around acute events. For chronic conditions, this approach works only to a limited extent. Diagnostics and treatment decisions are of high quality, but they are episodic. The real challenges emerge in everyday life between appointments – and this is exactly where medical support is often missing.

Where does this gap in care become particularly apparent?

It is especially evident in conditions such as multiple sclerosis. Disease progression is individual and fluctuating; symptoms affect not only physical functions but also cognitive and emotional dimensions. Many patients experience uncertainty precisely when no appointment is scheduled – for example, with new symptoms, unexplained fatigue, or depressive developments. These symptoms impair the ability to adhere consistently to therapy. Even when the intention is there, energy or structure is often lacking in daily life. If these burdens are only addressed at the next doctor’s appointment, important opportunities for stabilization have already been missed.

What can digital care contribute here?

Digital care primarily creates continuity – not as a replacement for medical appointments, but as a targeted extension of existing care. Low-threshold, professionally guided communication can absorb uncertainty early, provide orientation, and promote emotional stability. This has a direct impact on treatment adherence.

At Doctor.One, we create exactly this continuous medical support process. We enable an ongoing communication space between physicians and patients that focuses on small but decisive impulses: clarifying follow-up questions, interpreting warning signs, and providing reassurance. This form of digital support helps prevent therapy discontinuation and stabilizes treatment pathways in the long term.

In Germany, we need targeted testing environments for digital, value-based care models – especially for chronic conditions.

Why have such models not yet been established on a broad scale?

This is less a matter of medical evidence than of structural conditions. The current reimbursement system barely rewards continuous digital support. Yet studies show that quality of life can be improved and illness-related absences reduced. These effects are not yet being systematically leveraged within the system.

What is needed for this to change?

Pilot regions and the courage to implement. In Germany, we need targeted testing environments for digital, value-based care models – especially for chronic conditions. Only then can we demonstrate what modern healthcare delivery can look like and what medical and economic outcomes it actually generates. Because we know: chronic care is more effective with digital continuity. If we truly want to bring treatment processes into healthcare delivery, we must integrate them into everyday life – not just into the next appointment.

 

 

Martin Eberhart is Chief Commercial Officer of Doctor.One. The company was founded in Warsaw in 2021 as a medtech start-up and is one of the most successful digital healthcare initiatives in Poland. Following collaborations with the University Hospital in Gdańsk and programs with international pharmaceutical companies such as Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Merck, and AstraZeneca, the company is expanding into other European markets, including Germany.