Dr. Erkan Hassan

Monthly Writings

Evaluations and reviews of the latest in the field.

Global Digital Health Variances

SUMMARY:

  • Various issues preclude the implementation of full digital health systems to improve clinical care.

  • A reliable format to institute digital health consistently across countries remains elusive due to the lack of a coordinated system of data integration and sharing.

  • The opportunities for each country to improve the current use of digital health maybe linked to a consistent framework and readiness evaluation. 

REVIEW

  • Digital health has had a dramatic impact on healthcare systems globally.

  • Digital health plays a role via:

    • The EHR

    • Use within Population Health data

    • Integration into clinical care

    • Use of artificial intelligence

    • Sharing of health data           

  • Significant barriers exist from country to country to the expansion of digital health resulting in conflicting, uncoordinated systems of data sharing and digital health access.

  • Countries have varied federal and regional differences in health policy planning, regulations and delivery of digital healthcare.

Framework Template For Digital Health

FRAMEWORK FOR DIGITAL HEALTH by COUNTRY:

  • Although different countries take different approaches with the deployment of digital health programs, there are 7 areas which should be used as a template guide for each country to address in developing their plan.

  • These common themes should include:

    • Policy Objectives: Development of a national digital health strategy

    • Regulation & Governance:  Regulate and monitor all providers; gather user experiences

    • Financial: Establish rules for financing & reimbursement.  Data collection on financial impact and patient outcomes.

    • Delivery & Integration:  meet user needs and mitigate digital exclusions.

    • Workforce: Training and education, Proper team composition.

    • IT Systems & Data Sharing: Improved interoperability, ensure data privacy, All providers to share data, assess trends.

    • Patient Involvement: in the development of the digital health care system

Digital Health Readiness Evaluation

DIGITAL HEALTH READINESS by COUNTRY:

  • The digital health readiness has been proposed as a measure of each countries ability to make use of analytics, data and technology in the pursuit of improved patient outcomes.

  • The digital health readiness for a country is its ability to bridge the items in the above framework with the development of infrastructure, strategies and governance framework.

  • There are 4 areas of digital health readiness, each with 3 sub-categories.

CONCLUSIONS:

  • The digital landscape is complicated by public systems, large multi-national private entities, various models of care delivery, and varying regulations.

  • Digital health has great potential to transform health systems. However, many countries are ill-prepared for full digital health transformation.

  • Digital health readiness coupled with a consistent framework form the foundation from which data can be leveraged to improve well being.

Erkan Hassan