Digital Health: a local, national or global issue?
Digital Health: a local, national or global issue?
Digital health is in a state of flux. According to specialist analysts, the market is growing exponentially, and could be worth hundreds or even thousands of billions, depending on the source. In addition to the economic and financial stakes, there are many public health issues at stake: improved access to care, personalized treatments, optimized healthcare paths, etc. But behind these advances lies a fundamental question: Who should be entrusted with the challenges of digital healthcare?
Indeed, whether it’s local or national players, or larger players such as GAFAM, many initiatives have been launched in recent years, with varying degrees of success.
Local issues: a diversity of practices
At local level, digital health initiatives are many and varied. Regions, départements and communes are setting up pilot projects, telehealth platforms and mobile applications to facilitate access to healthcare professionals. Take the example of the DiabApp, the monitoring application dedicated to Valais patients with diabetes. This application, which was developed within the Action Diabète initiative of the association Diabète-Valais, has the advantage of responding to a clear need, which is to help diabetic patients to track the progress of their disease.
This need is not localized to the canton of Valais, but the political and financial agendas of a country like Switzerland (which also applies to most other countries) make it more complex to develop a solution for an entire state. Local initiatives therefore have a clear advantage: their ease of implementation means they can respond rapidly to a need (sometimes specific to local populations) and foster innovation, often at low cost.Local initiatives therefore have a clear advantage: their ease of implementation means they can respond rapidly to a need (sometimes specific to local populations) and foster innovation, often at low cost.
However, they also have their limitations: They can suffer from a lack of coordination and fragmentation of schemes, which can hamper their effectiveness on a large scale.
National policies: a necessary regulatory framework
States play an essential role in the development of digital health by defining regulatory frameworks, funding projects and supporting research. National initiatives also guarantee that the need is nationwide, and that projects will be successful if they are developed with all stakeholders in mind. What’s more, the state can guarantee harmony between all localities for projects developed on its scale.
National initiatives also guarantee that the need is nationwide, and that projects will be successful if they are developed with all stakeholders in mind. What’s more, the state can guarantee harmony between all localities for projects developed on its scale. In Switzerland, we can mention the DigiSanté program, which aims to make the Swiss Confederation catch up by 2034. This nationwide programcomprend une cinquantaine projets, who are thus orchestrate together with a global vision.
Read more : DigiSanté: promoting the digital transformation of the healthcare system
This type of program is essential to the development of e-health in a country, and enables the relevant authorities to manage multiple projects within a clear technical and regulatory framework. In this way, the various solutions are standardized, which goes a long way towards ensuring their long-term viability.However, it is important to be aware of the delays involved in developing this type of program (and any other type of project) under the aegis of a national initiative.
Indeed, the political agendas of the various parties involved can sometimes slow down the speed of decision-making and execution, particularly when large sums are at stake. Another drawback is that initiatives launched by states do not necessarily take into account local specificities, such as differences in access to care or treatment.
The weight of the GAFAMs: players who can’t be ignored
Digital giants (Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple, Microsoftto which we can also add NVidia) are increasingly present in the healthcare sector and invest a great deal of technical, human and financial resources. Examples include DeepMind par Healtha division of Google which develops algorithms to improve medical diagnosis using AI.
Read Article : Developing reliable AI tools for healthcare
Unlike localities and sometimes even states, GAFAMs have considerable resources and unique technological expertise, enabling them to develop innovative solutions on a large scale and very quickly.
GAFAMs are playing an increasingly important role in digital healthcare. Their innovations have the potential to improve access to care, personalize treatment and optimize disease management. But what about our data? As their business model is based on the collection and exploitation of personal data, their presence in the field of digital health raises important ethical and regulatory questions. Medical data is one of the most sensitive types of data, so it’s important to know what happens to it when it’s used by the digital giants.
