From devices to digital

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How do we shift healthcare from a reactive model - where we treat illness after it strikes - to a proactive one focused on prevention? This is the core question driving Ondřej Svoboda, CEO and co-founder of Dr. Digital. With a background in medical device distribution, regulatory expertise, and telemedicine, Ondřej is pioneering a new model of digital health.

Dr. Digital’s service transforms data from a one-time diagnostic tool into a continuous health companion - guiding, protecting, and empowering patients remotely. But turning this vision into reality required overcoming a major obstacle: hardware dependency.

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Breaking free from hardware hurdles

The digital health landscape has long been weighed down by the logistical and regulatory complexities of physical medical devices. This reliance on hardware created a major roadblock for scaling personalized, continuous care.

As Ondřej explains:

When you purchase medical devices, you have to rely on the stability of the manufacturers, while they rely on the stability of producers of the materials — and it goes on and it goes on. In the last 15 years, I have seen companies manufacturing various devices fall just because they didn't have the materials or the logistics or the infrastructure, or they couldn't service the product.

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Early on, Dr. Digital focused on supporting elderly patients at home with connected devices. But while physical monitors enabled remote consultations, they were cumbersome for patients and difficult to manage at scale.

We realized we could take care of more people if we let go of the hardware

‍Ondřej recalls.

This insight pushed Dr. Digital to pivot toward a software-only approach, one that could deliver validated, continuous monitoring without the friction of physical devices.

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The turning point: choosing Shen AI

To achieve this vision, Dr. Digital evaluated numerous software solutions worldwide. After extensive testing, Shen AI emerged as the clear choice.

I was looking for a software option, and I found different competitors to Shen around the world. At the end of the day, Shen was the best option. From a technical point of view, the accuracy was the best. We checked independent comparisons, we tried Shen and competitors in the same setting, and we even tested against the gold standard — mercury cuff monitors. Shen was the most precise and most accurate.

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But accuracy wasn’t the only deciding factor. Trust in the team mattered just as much.

If you meet the team, you talk to the founders, you see they are there for a reason. In my 15 years in medical device distribution, I’ve seen companies bought and sold overnight. With Shen, I saw a clear mission and values that aligned with ours.

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Flexibility in integration sealed the decision.

You don’t want to adjust your processes to the technology. You want to adjust the technology to your processes. With Shen, that was possible — it was fast, easy, and they knew what they were talking about.

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From measurements to proactive care

The shift to Shen AI transformed Dr. Digital’s user experience. Patients can now check vitals like blood pressure with just their smartphone - no training, no special equipment, and results delivered in under a minute.

In just five months, Dr. Digital recorded thousands of blood pressure measurements - more than physical clinics could ever manage. More importantly, those readings translated into long-term trends that enabled proactive care.

We are able to motivate people simply to measure themselves. Once we have enough data and a complete anamnesis, we can red-flag urgent cases, call the patient, and send them to the right doctor.

Ondřej explains.

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One case in particular highlights the difference.

We detected a pre-hypertension trend in a patient and quickly secured him a priority appointment. The cuff monitor confirmed Shen AI’s results, and he was medicated within two days. That likely prevented a serious cardiovascular event.

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Business impact: double the engagement

For Dr. Digital’s B2B clients - mainly insurers - the measurable impact has been striking. The industry average utilization rate for value-added health services is 3-7%. With Dr. Digital, it’s 15-20% - more than double.

Half of that engagement comes from patients reaching out to us. But the other half we initiate proactively, thanks to the data we collect. That’s why insurers are so happy — they see double the utilization and double the engagement they’re used to.

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Looking ahead: the future is proactive

Ondrej Svoboda's journey with Dr. Digital provides a powerful example of how AI is driving a profound shift toward proactive healthcare. Their success story demonstrates how accessible, accurate, and insightful AI health monitoring can be. By eliminating friction and delivering immediate value, solutions like Shen AI empower individuals to take agency over their health.

Ultimately, this is about moving beyond passive data collection to active, empowering health management - and building a future where health is not a reaction, but a proactive right.

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