Although modern computer and medical technology has long been available in Germany's hospitals and medical practices, the COVID pandemic has brought home to us the inadequacy of digitization in many areas of society - including our healthcare system. Whether it's difficulties in registering patients and contacts, organizing and booking a vaccination appointment, or digital "3G" verification.
When it comes to digitization, the German healthcare system is far behind in international comparison. Demographic change, the shortage of skilled workers, and complex requirements in terms of security and cost-effectiveness pose major challenges for hospitals, care centers, health insurers, and medical practices. Modern IT solutions are indispensable for meeting and mastering these challenges.
But what exactly does "digitization in healthcare" mean and what opportunities does it bring?
At the center of this is the patient's medical data, which is exchanged between doctors and patients, but also between the individual service providers, by means of information and communication technologies. This not only creates new administrative possibilities, but also new diagnostic and treatment options. In addition, digitization simplifies and accelerates communication between the individual players in the healthcare system. Digital solutions therefore have many faces here as well: whether robotics, artificial intelligence or Big Data - cutting-edge developments of our digital age are finding applications in the healthcare industry.
Artificial intelligence (AI) has already demonstrated its benefits and achieved success in industry, among other things, in automating workflows and optimizing processes.
In healthcare, AI technologies can increase quality while reducing costs. In this context, AI learns from digital health data, such as patients' symptoms, and can recognize patterns and thus assist doctors in diagnosis by making initial diagnostic suggestions. This contributes to earlier detection of diseases and ultimately better patient care. The application of AI can thus also become a key technology of the future in the field of health. According to a study by the auditing firm PwC, 64 percent of German executives are convinced that AI will revolutionize medicine in the next ten years. However, only 30 percent have taken concrete steps, according to the study. The reason for this is regulatory issues, such as data protection, which need to be clarified.
The possibility of creating a so-called digital twin is particularly forward-looking. Based on the relevant patient data, physicians can create a computer simulation of the patient and generate more precise diagnoses and predictions of possible treatment paths. With these digital doubles as the image of the patient, great hopes are emerging in medicine to revolutionize personalized and individualized therapy. 74 percent of Germans are convinced that this digital twin will drive research forward, and as many as 83 percent would have a test model made of themselves. However, concerns about data protection are also evident here: 80 percent of those surveyed said they feared that data could fall into the wrong hands.
Other components of digitization in healthcare are robotics, e-health and telemedicine. Mostly used as assistance systems, robotic procedures can be used and support both in the operating room and in nursing. The use of robotics in healthcare has not been a pipe dream in other countries for a long time. Whether it is special nursing robots that relieve nursing staff of individual tasks so that they have more time for the patients themselves, intelligent nursing trolleys that bring utensils to the nursing staff and thus save walking distances, or robots that process patient files - the possible applications of robotics are diverse and can also support the problem of the shortage of skilled workers.
Telemedicine - monitoring, diagnostics and therapy across spatial distances thanks to modern communication solutions - is another component of the digitization of healthcare. According to a study by the auditing firm PwC, it is important to patients in Germany that doctors remain a human factor and point of contact even in times of digitization. Despite major concerns about data security, 74 percent of the study participants would like to see an expansion of consultation services on the Internet. Whether in the form of video consultations or online chat, telemedicine appears to be a welcome addition to standard medical care.
In addition to the expansion of telemedicine, which is part of e-health, the electronic patient file and the electronic prescription are also of central importance for digitization and a modern everyday healthcare routine. According to the Federal Ministry of Health, the introduction of the electronic patient file and the electronic prescription will set an important course for improving healthcare in Germany. These forms of e-health are intended to standardize administration and organization and thus facilitate communication between different players.
If you look at the opportunities that lie behind the use and application of the latest IT technologies and solutions, it quickly becomes clear that they are enormous.
Whether it's administrative and organizational support, communication facilitation, and faster, more accurate detection and monitoring of diseases and therapy progress - better, more comprehensive, and affordable medical care can be achieved through the necessary digitization of the healthcare system.
There is a lot of catching up to do, be it the expansion of cross-organizational networking, the optimization of (individual) patient care, increased cost efficiency and, above all, the creation and observance of data protection and regulatory rules and requirements in the process.
These and other challenges, such as the shortage of skilled workers, demographic change and urbanization, can be met more easily through the use of technology and IT solutions.
Sources: www.firmen.handelsblatt.com, www.bundesgesundheitsministerium.de, www.gesundheit-digitalisieren.de, www.pwc.de