A s digital goes mainstream in the wake of COVID-19, the healthcare industry is in critical need of maturing in digital health. The global health crisis has sparked off drastic changes across the healthcare technology and innovation space. The adoption of digital health is at an all-time high, as healthcare organizations across the globe are realizing the significance of going digital.

During the global pandemic, digital health organizations were under tremendous pressure to innovate better and faster, given the intensifying spread of the epidemic. Healthcare technologies were well aware that they could accelerate change, but only if they acted quickly: the pandemic was not going to wait.

This need for speed applies to other aspects of healthcare as well—for example, take the instance of hydroxychloroquine announced as a treatment for coronavirus, post the emergency approval, which was later revoked due to its many consequences.

It’s evident that these organizations need to strike a balance between acting quickly and ‘to do it right’. While the widespread adoption of digital health as a result of COVID-19 is an incredibly positive change, it is also critical that we learn and evolve from past experiences in staying focused on the bigger picture.

Digital Health is facing a Maturity Challenge

Besides the innovations and fast-paced growth, digital health organizations must mature to realize its long-term benefits and achieve their fullest potential.

How can organizations build safe and efficient tools that are effective now and in the future? From data privacy, security and overall health, how do we protect the patients and end-users? How can we instill the confidence and trust that are the most valuable assets in any organization?

Proper regulatory standards are a must for the healthcare industry. Organizations need to ensure that they comply with the highest level of privacy, safety and security standards, so that consumers can have absolute trust in their healthcare services and solutions. Furthermore, healthcare technology standards and requirements were formulated for more conventional software. These regulatory standards fail to address the challenges and threats posed by next- gen technologies like Artificial Intelligence and analytics.

Regulatory modernization in the digital economy will evolve with time, and applying current regulations to the digital health landscape is a challenge by itself. Therefore healthcare tech companies need to take the appropriate initiatives to ensure safety—and act proactively with the regulatory standards.

Achieving Digital Maturity: How does your Company Stack up?

All Stakeholders have a Cohesive Role to Play in Overcoming this Challenge

Firstly, prioritizing patient privacy and safety should start with ourselves. We cannot just wait around for external regulations to take the initiatives every time. At a primary level, companies need to involve healthcare professionals at every stage, including product development, risk assessments and user reviews. Healthcare technology companies need to include as many participants as possible in evaluations, research studies and other new initiatives to accelerate change.

For instance, Chatbots Reset (designed to facilitate decisions on governing healthcare bots) by World Economic Forum, marks significant steps in involving stakeholders from across medicine, technology, and policy to build frameworks for the healthcare chatbot.

An Open Dialogue and a Lasting Future for Digital Health

What’s evident is that we need to adopt a culture of safety, privacy and quality and promote a transparent and open discussion on digital health. Leading players across the globe must embrace the positive steps while maintaining transparency with the fellow stakeholders on various challenges and outcomes.

There are evolving challenges and overcoming them is not an easy feat. We must have a holistic and inclusive approach towards these challenges, enabling us to unleash the potential of digital health—and fostering widespread adoption of digital technologies worldwide.

To learn more on accelerating digital health solutions to empower your healthcare organization, talk to our team.