- Promoting the introduction of remote medical care to hospitals and universities -
SB Technology Corp.
SB Technology Corp. (Headquarters: Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo; President & CEO: Shinichi Ata; hereinafter referred to as SBT) is pleased to announce that it will release its livestock remote medical care service "Animalook" on April 1, 2024, and that it has been decided that the service will be introduced at a total of 77 clinics, including NOSAI Hokkaido, the largest in Japan, and NOSAI Okinawa. As a result, more than half of NOSAI veterinarians nationwide *1 will gradually begin remote medical care using Animalook.
This service can be used by NOSAI as well as various clinics, hospitals, and universities that treat livestock, and by centrally managing appointments and treatments, it can improve the work efficiency of veterinarians.
■Background
Most livestock medical treatments are performed by veterinarians belonging to NOSAI. NOSAI provides livestock insurance based on mutual assistance among farmers to compensate for illness, injury, death, and disposal accidents of livestock. By joining this livestock insurance, farmers can receive insurance benefits for medical treatment.
Veterinarians visit farmers daily for medical treatment, but there are areas where frequent medical treatment is difficult due to geographical factors such as remote locations and remote islands, and areas where medical efficiency is low due to the long distances required for house calls caused by the consolidation of clinics, etc. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, about 30% *2 of veterinarians' working hours are spent traveling, and in addition to the chronic shortage of veterinarians, the workload per person is also high.
In this context, on April 1, 2023, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries added remote medical care to the coverage of livestock insurance *3, creating an environment in which remote medical care can be actively used. In conjunction with this movement, SBT conducted repeated interviews with those involved in livestock medical care, leading to the launch of the service.
■About Animalook
https://www.softbanktech.co.jp/service/list/animalook
Animalook is a service that allows veterinarians to make video calls and schedule and manage consultations, which are necessary when conducting remote consultations. Remote consultations improve the efficiency of veterinarians' work, and by minimizing the need for outside parties to enter farms, the risk of infection is minimized. In addition, the service can be accessed using the LINE application, which is intuitive even for those who are not good at IT, and we believe it will be an effective tool for new communication between veterinarians and farmers.
Main features include:
◇ In addition to LINE, we also support SMS, email, and phone calls, and manage reservation status centrally
By having veterinarians register their available consultation times in advance on their calendars, appointments can be made via LINE or the web, reducing the burden on veterinarians. Farmers can receive notifications of confirmed appointments via various communication tools such as LINE, SMS, and email, and can start remote consultations via video call from the URL provided.
◇ Images with GPS (location information) make death confirmation more efficient
One of the medical procedures performed by veterinarians is the confirmation of death to determine whether the animal will be covered by the Mortality and Disposal Mutual Aid Insurance. By using GPS-enabled images to confirm death, veterinarians can reduce travel time and perform their duties more smoothly.
◇ Examination data is managed in the cloud, and can be operated from a smartphone when out and about
The diagnosis history, including medical records and prescription data, is managed centrally in the cloud, and the medical data can be accessed from smartphones. For example, it is possible to check the details of past medical treatments during house calls and edit new medical treatments.
■Price
Please contact us directly.
■About the future
We will continue to expand the functionality of our service and will work to introduce remote medical care to NOSAI and other livestock clinics, hospitals, and universities that provide medical care.
■Comment from Mr. Shigeru Nakao, Director of the Livestock Department, Hokkaido Agricultural Mutual Aid Association
The Hokkaido Agricultural Mutual Aid Association (known as NOSAI Hokkaido) introduced Animalook, a remote medical consultation and image confirmation tool for dead livestock developed by SB Technology Corp., in April 2024. Animalook has been developed as a platform for remote medical consultation services connecting veterinarians and farmers, with NOSAI Hokkaido cooperating in development testing and implementation testing since March last year. We hope that remote medical consultations will see a dramatic expansion in their use in the future as a service that brings "peace of mind" to farmers online. We will work in cooperation with SB Technology Corp. to further improve our services with this groundbreaking system.
Contact information regarding this press release
● SB Technology Corp. Public Relations Department
E-mail: sbt-press@tech.softbank.co.jp