Background Digital health tools may facilitate the continuity of care. Enhancement of digital aid is imperative to prevent information gaps or redundancies, as well as to facilitate support of flexible care plans. Objective The study presents Health Circuit, an adaptive case management approach that empowers health care professionals and patients to implement personalized evidence-based interventions, thanks to dynamic communication channels and patient-centered service workflows; analyze the health care impact; and determine its usability and acceptability among health care professionals and patients. Methods From September 2019 to March 2020, the health impact, usability (measured with the system usability scale; SUS), and acceptability (measured with the net promoter score; NPS) of an initial prototype of Health Circuit were tested in a cluster randomized clinical pilot (n=100) in patients with high risk for hospitalization (study 1). From July 2020 to July 2021, a premarket pilot study of usability (with the SUS) and acceptability (with the NPS) was conducted among 104 high-risk patients undergoing prehabilitation before major surgery (study 2). Results In study 1, Health Circuit resulted in a reduction of emergency room visits (4/7, 13% vs 7/16, 44%), enhanced patients’ empowerment (P<.001) and showed good acceptability and usability scores (NPS: 31; SUS: 54/100). In study 2, the NPS was 40 and the SUS was 85/100. The acceptance rate was also high (mean score of 8.4/10). Conclusions Health Circuit showed potential for health care value generation and good acceptability and usability despite being a prototype system, prompting the need for testing a completed system in real-world scenarios. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04056663; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04056663

Digital health tools may facilitate care continuum. However, enhancement of digital aid is imperative to prevent information gaps or redundancies, as well as to facilitate support of flexible care plans. The study presents Health Circuit, a digital health tool with an adaptive case management approach and analyses its healthcare impact, as well as its usability (SUS) and acceptability (NPS) by healthcare professionals and patients. In 2018-19, an initial prototype of Health Circuit was tested in a cluster randomized clinical pilot (n=100) in patients with high risk for hospitalization (Study I). In 2021, a pilot version of Health Circuit was evaluated in 104 high risk patients undergoing prehabilitation before major surgery (Study II). In study I, Health Circuit resulted in reduction of emergency room visits [4 (13%) vs 7 (44%)] and enhanced patients empowerment (p<0.0001) and showed good acceptabil-ity/usability scores (NPS 31 and SUS 54/100). In Study II, NPS scored 40 and SUS 85/100. The acceptance rate was also high (mean score of 8.4/10). Health Circuit showed potential for healthcare value generation, good both acceptability and usability despite being a prototype system, prompting the need for testing a completed system in real-world scenarios.

BACKGROUND Digital health tools may facilitate care continuum. However, enhancement of digital aid is imperative to prevent information gaps or redundancies, as well as to facilitate support of flexible care plans. OBJECTIVE The study presents Health Circuit, an adaptive case management approach to support innovative healthcare services, and analyses its healthcare impact, as well as its usability and acceptability by healthcare professionals and patients. METHODS In 2018-19, health impact, usability (SUS) and acceptability (NPS) of an initial prototype of Health Circuit was tested in a cluster randomized clinical pilot (n=100) in patients with high risk for hospitalization (Study I). In 2021, a pre-market pilot of Health Circuit was conducted in 104 high risk patients undergoing prehabilitation before major surgery (Study II). RESULTS In Study I, Health Circuit resulted in reduction of emergency room visits [4 (13%) vs 7 (44%)], enhanced patients’ empowerment (p<0.001) and showed good acceptability/usability scores (NPS 31 and SUS 54/100). In Study II, NPS scored 40 and SUS 85/100. The acceptance rate was also high (mean score of 8.4/10). CONCLUSIONS Health Circuit showed potential for healthcare value generation, good both acceptability and usability despite being a prototype system, prompting the need for testing a completed system in real-world scenarios. CLINICALTRIAL NCT04056663 (clinicaltrials.gov, August 14, 2019)