D I S S E C T I N G B U S I N E S S
Shameem C Hameed , Founder and CEO of blueBriX
nine percent of the total world population . This is predicted to reach 16 % ( 1.5 billion ) by 2050 . These demographic trends are causing shifts within the healthcare sector and resulting in increased expenditure associated with the costs of treatment and prevention in old age .
Artificial Intelligence , digital health apps and virtual care platforms , among other technologies , provide solutions which are both cost and labour effective and seek to reduce the pressures being placed on the healthcare sector . In fact , the global digital health model is huge – valued at $ 211 billion in 2022 and set to get bigger , with a projected growth of 18.6 % from 2023 to 2030 .
However , there are certain challenges that must be surmounted if the full potential of these digital solutions is yet to be realised and successfully integrated into current healthcare settings .
Data privacy and security
Within pharmaceutical , hospital , clinic and other healthcare settings , there is a call for a balance between the requirements of data protection and security as well as a need for innovation such as real-time alerting , predictive analysis and telemedicine . While the digitisation of patient health records and data has been around for the last several decades , the unprecedented acceleration of digital solutions within healthcare settings has bought an increased need to ensure sensitive patient information is kept private and secure .
When we consider that approximately 30 % of the world ’ s data volume is generated by the healthcare industry and this is projected to increase to 36 % by 2025 , this is a huge , complex and often expensive undertaking . Added to this complexity , regulations around the privacy and security of information , such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act [ HIPAA ] in the US and GDPR throughout the EU must be adhered to .
As well as privacy compliance , sensitive data must also be secured against possible breaches and malicious attackers , with over 22.6 million patients affected by data breaches in 2021 alone .
Payment and reimbursement models
With technology having lagged in healthcare for decades , communication between patients and providers has become convoluted , with services unnecessarily complex and difficult to navigate . Increasingly , there is a challenge of transparency in reimbursement models within healthcare . Traditional transactional models prioritise neither patient outcomes nor the incentivisation of cost-savings from a clinical perspective .
This has led to a misalignment of incentives for patients and clinicians , as well as insurance companies and has ultimately led to patients being disconnected from the treatments they receive , with costs remaining opaque .
The increased interest in digital healthcare solutions offers a way to accelerate the conversation , underpinning traditional payment and reimbursement models with the data and digital infrastructure to place value-based care at the forefront , with digital tools able to generate useful data that can establish useful metrics for measuring valuebased contracts . With better data , better models can be established that provide an incentive for clinicians to adopt them .
Trust and regulation
When it comes to certain digital solutions , especially those that implement AI and Machine Learning , there is hesitancy on the part of both healthcare professionals and patients to fully trust the technology , particularly when it comes to critical decision-making processes . While public opinion is slowly warming to the capabilities and positive potential of AI , particularly with the rise in popularity of AI platforms like ChatGPT , many are still sceptical of AI-based solutions within healthcare .
Compounding this challenge , the regulatory landscape around artificial intelligence and its integration into digital healthcare has somewhat lagged behind the developments within the field , stifling further innovation and doing little to build public trust .
There is an undeniable friction between the proper regulation of such technologies that will prioritise the safety and efficacy of patient
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