A New Frontier of Medicine - Digital Health
Introduction
While “digital health” is a simple concept – which includes all technologies that engage patients for health-related purposes, it encompasses a wide range of products used across wellness and healthcare industries. The term "digital health" technologies include telehealth, mobile health, smart devices, wearable devices, sensors, etc.
What’s to come?
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) website states: "From mobile medical apps and software that support the clinical decisions doctors make every day to artificial intelligence and machine learning, digital technology has been driving a revolution in health care. Digital health tools have the vast potential to improve our ability to accurately diagnose and treat disease and to enhance the delivery of health care for the individual.” 1
The World Health Organization (WHO) has been developing a global strategy on digital health in order to support national efforts of member states to achieve universal health coverage.
For example, Pharmacy Information System, and Public Health and Disease Surveillance System. 2
The digital health industry experienced a major boost in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. COVID-19 shone a light on the need for innovative treatment options that can be used at home from your phone or tablet, helping to propel the digital health industry to the forefront of medicine. Consumer expectations of digital healthcare have also continued to grow, with patients looking for increased control, flexibility, and seamless integration into their lives. This sets up a massive growth potential for digital health in the future.
The Asia-Pacific Digital Health Market
Southeast Asia was the fastest-growing region in terms of internet, mobile and social media users
over the recent years. The demand for digital healthcare in Asia is rising due to several reasons, primarily economic; lack of high-end infrastructure, monetary constraints, shortage of medical equipment and medical professionals, especially in rural areas. According to the World Health Organization, Southeast Asian countries tend to have fewer physicians on average (approx.0.6) for every 1000 people of the population. 3 The
Mayo Clinic states that accessibility is one of the primary drivers of telehealth adoption worldwide accentuating the salience of the Asian market given that over 50% of its populations living in rural areas. The high incidence of chronic, non-communicable diseases in APAC such as diabetes, hypertension, obesity, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, has also helped spark the digitalization of this emerging market.
China has been particularly noted for its capacity to leverage digital resources in the fight against Covid-19. In the past decade, China has invested heavily in big data, AI, and other IT funds in the healthcare field setting it ahead of the game when we compare region-specific responses to the pandemic. Tencent and Elsevier recently collaborated to share medical information with Chinese doctors. Alibaba Cloud is delivering AI computing power to bolster large chunks of data analysis, large-scale literature screening and scientific super-computing work. China has also leveraged the use of robots to support frontline health workers. Medical robots at
Wuhan Thunder Mountain Hospital
have been deployed to disinfect hospital wards, monitor patient’s temperature and organize medical supplies, thereby diminishing the workload of medical staff and reducing the risk of cross-contamination.
Japan has experientially highlighted the advantages of digital in its response to Covid-19. In particular, it is honing in on telemedicine and clinical trials as tools to help curb infection rates and plan for future preventative measures. Pivoting towards digital health has been shown to help alleviate the diagnostic error rate in Japan, which is estimated to be around 30%. 4
Singapore as a market shares many characteristics with emerging Asia when it comes to digital health, even as many consumer sentiments and behaviors are more in common with developed markets. Singapore is an attractive place to introduce digital health solutions because there are low barriers to adoption – most respondents were willing to try one or more of the many digital health innovations available on the market. Also, 91 percent of Singaporeans were willing to share personal health data if they see a benefit to doing so – the most popular use cases to improve medical care quality and receive personalized health services. 5
On the other hand, more conservative markets, such as South Korea and Hong Kong are more tentatively adopting digital health tools in response to the pandemic. The demand for such services in these regions is relatively low in comparison due to the cultural attitude and lack of funding.
An Ongoing Journey in Hong Kong
The eHRSS was launched by the Hong Kong Government in 2016. It is a territory-wide, patient-oriented electronic sharing platform which enables authorized healthcare providing organizations in the public and private sectors to access and share participating patients' electronic health records (eHR) for healthcare purposes. 3
Aside from medical records, there are also smart wearable devices which can be linked to the
user’s health management mobile apps to log their calorie intake, blood sugar level, blood pressure, heart rate and the number of steps. 4 Some patients with chronic conditions, such as diabetes, need to measure and monitor their blood sugar level daily so that their doctor can adjust the prescription and dosage of the drugs being administered in a timely matter. Through integrating medical records and bio-data, both the doctor and the user can get a better understanding of the overall physical condition. In the long run, integrating the electronic health records kept by medical institutions and individual users, as well as using cloud computing and artificial intelligence to make good use of the medical data, will pave the way for the development of the next generation of smart healthcare.
Currently, some local information technology companies are actively conducting R&D into medical technology applications. For instance, targeting the medical IoMT market, Megasoft Limited
has developed 19 solutions for medical institutions. These include a smart pharmacy management system, an intelligent laundry tracking system, and an inventory management system. Among these, the best known is the Drug Refill Management System (DRMS). Used in hospitals, it helps to shorten the whole process of drug collection from three hours to less than 30 minutes, significantly reducing patients’ waiting time, human error and labor costs, increasing the efficiency and accuracy of the pharmacy department, and improving the overall experience patients have during drug collection. Since its launch, more than 10 public hospitals in Hong Kong have adopted this system.
The Hong Kong government’s policy is to enable “smart hospitals” by promoting the wider use of new technologies in public hospitals. In December 2019, the “HA Go” app was launched, allowing users to manage their medical appointments at public hospitals by using their smartphone. In addition, some public hospitals have been designated as pilots for developing them into smart hospitals. For example, in the Tseung Kwan O Hospital, a 5G network has been installed so that medical staff performing surgeries and wearing 5G smart glasses can share the endoscopic images instantly. Technologies such as these can help enhance the efficiency of Hong Kong’s public healthcare system. 5
Singapore, being an early adopter of telehealth services in Asia, has guided the development of telehealth services by providing guidelines and refining the regulatory regime since the mid-2010s. Compared with other markets, Hong Kong arguably lags behind in the development of telemedicine. Although the Ethical Guidelines on Practice of Telemedicine issued by the Medical Council of Hong Kong in December 2019.6
Conclusion
Today, Digital health already is a cornerstone of developed health systems all over the world. The Digital Health market can be considered from two different perspectives, "wellness management" and "disease management". The definition of the term is, however, broadly conceived. Related terms such as mHealth, telehealth, health informatics, or especially eHealth, are often used as synonyms.
Worldwide, models of health and care are struggling to meet the challenge of ageing populations. Digital health and care interventions are recognized as key to the solution in tackling this crisis using modern technologies and digital services. As digital health technologies becomes more commoditized ,they are not only changing the way we communicate but offer more innovative ways for monitoring our health and wellbeing and provide greater access to personal bio-data for self-management.
The era of telemedicine, wearable technology, and online behavior tracking has the potential to improve the quality of lives allowing insurers to offer lower premiums. Over the long-term these interventions are predicted to assuage strains on healthcare infrastructures services becoming increasingly part of routine, standard care.
References
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration. (2020). What is Digital Health?https://www.fda.gov/medical-devices/digital-health-center-excellence/what-digital-health
The World Health Organization. (2020). Global strategy on digital health 2020-2025https://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/344249/9789240020924-eng.pdf
World Health Organization. (2018) World Health Statistics 2018 ISBN 978-92-4-156558-5
McKinsey Digital Japan (2022)
Using digital transformation to thrive in Japan’s new normal: An urgent imperative
HealthXL Research Team (2021) 5 things to know about the Asia-Pacific Digital Health Markethttps://www.healthxl.com/blog/5-things-to-know-about-the-asia-pacific-digital-health-market
Dr. NT Cheung, Head (IT & Health Informatics) & CMIO, Hospital Authority. (2019).gdhp2019, Digital Health in Hong Kong A Vision for the Future.
eHealth, HKSAR. (2022) https://www.portal.ehealth.gov.hk/app/health-management?lang=tc
Alice Tsang, Hong Kong Trade Development Council. (2021) Analysis and News – Analysis, Virtually Well: Hong Kong’s Smart Healthcare Upgrade
The Medical Council of Hong Kong . (2019) Ethical Guidelines on Practice of Telemedicine
Promulgated vide the Newsletter Issue No. 26 of the Medical Council of Hong Kong of December 2019