The doctor is online: Deutsche Telekom supports start-up TeleClinic

12-18-2017 Frank Leibiger

• TeleClinic offers round-the-clock access to doctors via app, website or telephone
• The start-up hosts the solution in the Open Telekom Cloud
• Open Telekom Cloud offers the highest level of security and data protection for sensitive patient data

Deutsche Telekom supports the start-up company TeleClinic and hosts the online medical practice in the Open Telekom Cloud. TeleClinic offers medical advice, consulting hours and prescriptions from the Open Telekom Cloud. Doctors and nurses are available for patients around the clock via website, telephone or an app.

The Munich-based start-up had qualified for the TechBoost program, with which Deutsche Telekom supports young companies with digital business models. TeleClinic will receive an initial credit of 100,000 euros for computing and storage capacities from the Open Telekom Cloud as part of TechBoost.

Data processing and storage in German data centers

In the Open Telekom Cloud, TeleClinic operates not only a website and app backend, but also a telephone gateway to assign incoming calls and a two-terabyte database. When users communicate with TeleClinic, all data is transferred to the cloud in encrypted form and stored on the database server.

All data processed and stored in the cloud is subject to strict German data protection. Deutsche Telekom provides the Open Telekom cloud exclusively from German data centers. Numerous certificates attest to the particularly high level of data security and data protection. For example, TCDP 1.0 (Trusted Cloud Data Protection Profile) certifies that the Open Telekom Cloud is one of the few cloud protection profiles on the market today that offers companies the technical prerequisites necessary to meet the future requirements of the European Data Protection Regulation (EDPR). The EDPR will come into force on May 25, 2018.

Trustworthy partners for patients and health insurance companies

"Because highly sensitive and confidential patient data is processed in the health care system, TeleClinic only considered a technology partner that stands for trustworthiness and the highest level of data protection. The partnership with Deutsche Telekom underscores our competence and seriousness. And it creates trust - both in patients and in health insurance companies, which we would like to win as a cooperation partner," says Patrick Palacin, founder and chief technology officer at TeleClinic.

Founded in 2015, the company now has more than 20 permanent employees. 200 doctors carry out consultation hours on behalf of TeleClinic via webcam or telephone, six health insurers as cooperation partners cover the patients' treatment costs. Already 6,000 patients regularly use the TeleClinic service via app, website or telephone.

“Thanks to the cloud launch credit, we can now develop, deploy and test additional services in live operation," says Patrick Palacin.

Promoting contact between start-ups and SMEs

With the TechBoost program, Deutsche Telekom promotes contact between start-ups developing innovative B2B solutions and medium-sized companies. To facilitate market access for start-ups such as TeleClinic, the Group supports them with marketing and sales measures. Deutsche Telekom also enters into partnerships with start-ups to develop joint business models or sales cooperations.

TechBoost grants each start-up a credit of 100,000 euros for scalable IT resources - such as computing and storage capacity - from the Open Telekom Cloud. Thanks to OpenStack, their solutions can be easily integrated into the Open Telekom cloud. And because the public cloud offering is based on this architecture with open source code and standardized interfaces, there is no threat of vendor lock-in. In addition, young companies also benefit from special conditions for mobile and fixed line tariffs. In addition, technical contact persons are available specifically for start-ups.