Non-technological trends that are driving the evolution of digital health ...

There are many reasons why the evolution of digital health is predicted to fundamentally change the structure of the global health system in the near future. The most important of these reasons is the difference between disease-oriented services of health systems and the health-oriented needs of people and society. From a technology perspective, this transformation may occur with the creation of infrastructure, communications, protocols, and platforms, but from a health stakeholder perspective, the issue is much more complex .

The evolution of digital health should replace the layered health system that has been designed over centuries for disease-based research, and the individual-centered digital health ecosystem focused on health and wellness. In this article , we have described and defined some of the most important aspects of digital health evolution that are very important in shaping the future of health and can be considered as trends ( trends ) other than digital health technology .

 

Large gap between services and health needs

Today, the field of health is at a crossroads of destiny. Health care costs are skyrocketing. This increase in health expenditures is much lower than the growth of countries' GDP and makes it difficult to increase health budgets. Global health challenges are not limited to costs, and issues such as the aging of communities and, consequently, the rise of chronic diseases and the demand for services also exacerbate the problems .

While health systems around the world are grappling with challenges such as increasing need for care, especially long-term care for chronic diseases or financing exorbitant health costs, people and communities expect the health system to provide unique care and Provide them with personalized and focused health and wellness .

This is based on studies conducted in other countries, and we may not be able to generalize this to Iran, but there is no doubt that there is a large gap between health system services and community expectations. This can be seen in people's protests against the medical community and health care personnel or behaviors outside the defined pattern, such as disregard for the referral system. All of these and many other examples show that health systems are no longer capable of meeting the real needs of other people .

 

Capable clients

In most areas, changes come from needs. With the advent of digital health technology, needs gradually arose between people and society, but the traditional structure of the health system is not able to meet them and it seems that it does not; This issue is widening day by day and the gap between services and needs is widening. The two main factors that create this gap between the health system and the service providers who have been empowered by digital technology are as follows :

1. Health systems focus on combating, managing, and controlling disease, while the needs of today's people and societies tend to be personalized, personalized, and achieving health .
2. While people are accustomed to using digital tools, digital health solutions and tools that are available to the public often have nothing to do with components of the health system or are not cross-sectoral. In fact, digital health has become a completely separate structure from the traditional health system, and the two systems operate separately .

Unfortunately, the health system in these years, despite tremendous progress, especially in the treatment of diseases, has not been able to keep up with the needs of the day, but sooner or later this will happen and the health system will inevitably adapt to these needs. What will be the main driver and axis of this health change, digital technologies in the field of health or digital health technology .

 

A picture of the future of digital health transformation

Among the various definitions, perspectives and goals of digital health, one can find a picture of the future of digital health evolution; This image is a combination of three perspectives and the main goal that is hoped to be achieved through digital technologies .

 

1 . Achieving a sustainable global health system

Digital health infrastructures can optimize service delivery, provide access to quality services and provide the best outputs for people everywhere. Also, these systems can manage the amount of services provided in order to maintain the health and well-being of the population by monitoring the results of services and forecasting risk. Therefore, as a result of the automation of health services in the digital health environment and the focus on maintaining the health and well-being of the population, the best solution for health systems to achieve economically sustainable systems and manpower is the use of digital health technologies .

 

۲ . Creating an active system to maintain health and wellness

Digital health technologies create an environment in which people and society can take responsibility for their own health and actively work to maintain their own health. This space will be the driving force of these systems by using personal and mobile health measurement tools and information flow and analysis of data obtained from people's lifestyle and health status. By establishing proper communication with health care teams and exchanging information with them anywhere, anytime, it is possible to provide health and wellness services .

 

3 . Equip the health system with a productive learning model

Access to data and information in a secure environment while protecting the privacy of all health stakeholders, such as patients, healthcare professionals or policymakers, is the hallmark of digital health technologies. Instant access to information and its transparency and traceability make it possible to provide services based on very real and accurate evidence. In this way, each person's care path can be designed to be very unique according to his or her personal situation and maximize the efficiency of health services. This model of data learning will transform how health decisions are made .

 

Emerging Dimensions of Digital Health Transformation

Digital health technologies are adding new dimensions to the field of health that were not previously available. These transformative effects will go deep into the health system and completely change the structure and models of the current health field. Some of the dimensions of this digital health transformation are described below :

 

Person-centered health

Pivoted health or Person-enabled health in health systems that focus on the needs and achieve personal values and goals put health. This system understands the importance of communication between people and the healthcare team and establishes this communication based on the needs of individuals. It also provides the necessary conditions and facilities, especially digital health tools for self-care according to the living conditions of each person and shapes health services and services around personal needs and choices . The health-oriented dimension of digital health transformation includes three sub-categories, which include the following :

1. Personalized services (Personalized Care Delivery):  Here the main decision-maker to manage their health and the tools of their choice for this benefit .
2. Active Risk Management (Proactive Risk Management):  The system focuses on proactively identifying risks and thus public health and health care providers with respect to these risks actively trying to reduce risk and achieve health goals .
3. Projected population health (Predictive Population Health):  Health Systems using big data accessible and practical tools of analysis, health status and risk population to identify and reduce risk sections of the population, with a focus on health and wellbeing strategies to implement it .

 

Predictive analysis

Predictive analysis or Predictive Analytics convert the data into information and knowledge on the fact that the possibility of deciding to individuals, teams of health and the health system leaders. This dimension of health evolution collects data from the health system to be usable at various levels for decision making. Here, too, the focus is on maintaining health by using data to provide personalization services, risk forecasting, efficiency gains, and proactive prevention . The predictive analysis of digital health evolution has three main sub-categories, which include the following :

1. Personal analysis (Personalized Analytics):  various types of data such as lifestyle, everyday events, social life, many of which are genetic and biological information using digital tools are collected there. Analyzing this data helps individuals and their health care providers to make decisions to achieve their health and wellness goals .
2. Predictive analysis (Predictive Analytics):  during the care of each patient's condition is monitored and data analysis solutions that best results for every person's unique requirements are identified. Predictive analysis also evaluates community-level programs and identifies potential threats and poor outcomes to implement better strategies for them .
3. Operational Analysis (Operational Analytics):  Access data for monitoring health system performance in areas such as efficiency, productivity, process, safety, quality, capacity and stability of the workforce, output and logistics resources, financial resources and unwanted events occur. Digital tools and dashboards are used to monitor operational status and make decisions based on it .

 

Sovereignty and labor

Governance and labor or Governance and Workforce as digital health systems leadership and monitoring of legislation and regulatory space for health systems to protect the privacy, security, trustee and defined responsibilities. The governance priority in the digital health transformation environment is a productive and sustainable workforce that is ready to provide digitized health services. A productive and sustainable digital health ecosystem in the future requires a single governance structure to manage these changes toward a new health system. The atmosphere of this governance structure should also monitor and guide decision-making and policy-making by using the information obtained from data analysis, strategies and structures of authority . For the governance and workforce dimension of digital health transformation, four sub-categories including the following can be considered :

1. Custodianship of data (Data Stewardship):  a concept that processes the data are securely managed and collected and will be available defines. There must be leadership, culture, vision and goals to support the digital transformation of health to define the necessary structures and processes .
2. Policies and decision-making processes (Policy and Decision-Making Processes) :  the evolution of digital health should include evidence-based digital health strategy, alignment of digital processes, incentives and structures of value-based health system is focused on output. Political structures are important to the digital health system because they must explain data-driven decision-making responsibilities and new processes to stakeholders .
3. Transparency (Transparency):  in the evolution of digital health, any person considered as partners in the health system and ensure that observers governance and transparent access to personal health information and the health system is in place .
4. Capacity and skills of the workforce (Workforce Capacity and competency):  growth and rapid development of digital health ecosystem requires a workforce with the knowledge, skills and capabilities to be able to model and digital health strategies, including individual-oriented approach focused on the health and wellbeing of the match Slowly The opportunity offered by digital health technologies can only become a real value if the workforce acquires the knowledge and skills to use them in care .

 

Interoperability

Or interoperability Interoperability means the ability of information systems, devices and different Aplykyshhay access, exchange, integration and cooperation in the use of data. It is the ability to interact in the transformation of digital, extra-organizational, regional and national health to be able to access information in a timely and flawless manner and to optimize the health care of people and communities around the world. The architecture and standards of health data exchange provide access to appropriate and secure information for all health stakeholders . The interaction dimension of your digital health transformation includes four sub-categories as follows :

1. The fundamental interaction (Foundational Interoperability):  requirements for communication between a system or application to send or receive information to others for providing secure. The ability to interact fundamentally enables this exchange of information at the individual level .
2. The structure interaction (Structural Interoperability):  form, composition and structure of the exchange of information at different levels of interpretation, is determined. It also determines the ability of structural interaction, data flow and information between different sources .
3. Semantic interoperability (Semantic Interoperability):  the common coding to define and create a common understanding of the data. This feature makes the data understandable to everyone .
4. Interoperability organization (Organizational Interoperability):  This includes considerations of sovereignty, political, social, legal and institutional to facilitate the exchange and use safe, clean and timeliness of data between or within organizations and even individuals are .

 

Are we ready for the evolution of digital health?

Experts believe that digital health is a wave that will lead to many fundamental and infrastructural changes in the field of health, but there is no consensus on how fast and when this digital health is happening. What is clear is that this transformation will greatly affect and transform the lives of many professionals, both in the public sector, from management and policy-making to the provision of health services, and in the private sector, from the production of products to the provision of various services .

For more than a decade, many efforts have been made to facilitate and accelerate the digitalization of health. Although barriers have always been stronger, the penetration of digital health technology seems to be increasing day by day. Many forecasts say that by 2030 we will see very significant and deconstructive changes in the global health system .

Therefore, it is necessary for all health stakeholders to be prepared for this digital health transformation. On the other hand, once these developments have taken place, it is too late to take the lead, and those who are thinking of taking the lead in any position, market or industry in today's health, must provide the grounds for their superiority in the leading developments . There are two key points about digital health developments that need to be addressed :

1. None of the health stakeholders, including policymakers, managers, healthcare professionals, manufacturers and service providers, will be immune to the effects of these developments .
2. These developments can lead to the elimination of jobs, services and maps, as well as the creation of new maps and opportunities .