Such tools are promising given the rising burden of chronic diseases that healthcare systems are struggling to respond to in a cost-effective, equitable and sustainable way. Disease management, continuous monitoring and tracking and behavioural interventions are critical interventions for conditions like heart disease, diabetes and cancer, in contrast to infectious diseases and acute emergencies, but modern health systems have not been built to handle the numbers of patients with these chronic conditions, according to Elgar Fleisch, professor of Information and Technology Management at ETH Zurich and the University of St Gallen.
Digital health technologies demonstrate value, but integrating them into health systems is challenging. Solutions are not always designed with the needs of clinicians and patients in mind, and the data and technology environment can become increasingly complex and fragmented. New approaches to clinical validation and regulatory approval are required, but these take time to develop. Socioeconomic inequalities, such as unequal internet access and varying levels of digital literacy, can mean that such disparities widen in the rush to roll out digital health solutions.
This Economist Impact report combined a ten-country barometer covering Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, Spain, UK and the US with a wide-ranging expert-interview programme to assess the enabling environment for digital health across economic, demographic and cultural contexts. This barometer assesses national performance in the provision of key regulatory, institutional, policy and capability enablers for successfully adopting and deploying health technologies at scale.
