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This Month in Healthcare IT: Remarkable News in November
The healthcare IT landscape is a cornerstone of the modern health sector, requiring continuous innovation and adaptation. Each improvement in this landscape breaks fresh ground in patient care, optimizes systems and creates a healthier future for millions.
At Tiga Healthcare Technologies, we believe in leading the digital transformation in the health sector by committing to the global trends, latest reports and regulations. This knowledge is the foundation of our progress and our mission to shape healthcare IT with a lasting impact.
Aligned with this commitment, we consistently refine our domain expertise and share it through this blog series to ensure that healthcare professionals and authorities remain informed about the most critical advancements and trends shaping healthcare IT.
Here are the top 11 news that have positively influenced healthcare IT from November 2024:
1. The World Health Organization (WHO) published a handbook, ‘Digital Transformation Handbook for Primary Health Care.’
WHO released a handbook, ‘Digital Transformation Handbook for Primary Health Care.’, aiming to assist nations in progressing toward the digitalization of healthcare through a person-focused service system. This handbook can be conceptualized as a framework to improve the delivery of healthcare services.
Developed with the Human Reproduction Program and Digital Health and Innovation, the handbook demonstrates a roadmap from paper to digital transformation. According to the roadmap, papers show limited data use with little to no interoperability standards while digital transformation completely changes healthcare delivery. The handbook, mainly focusing on person-centered point of service systems (PCPOS), highlights global standards like SMART Guidelines and HL7 FHIR for interoperability. Additionally, it explains the integration of digital solutions and the customization of tools to enhance patient tracking, optimize information exchange and support decision-making.
Source: https://iris.who.int/bitstream/handle/10665/379452/9789240093362-eng.pdf
2. Global Digital Health Partnership (GDHP) and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) launched a new policy tool for digital health collaboration worldwide.
GDHP and OECD developed the OECD-GDHP Policy Repository Tool by adhering to GDHP’s Policy Environments Workstream. The tool acts as a global resource for improving digital health collaboration.
The OECD-GDHP Policy Repository Tool covers 24 policy areas such as analytic integrity, data quality, public engagement and procurement to facilitate cross-border learning and determine best practices. The tool, built on the OECD’s Policy Checklist, offers a heatmap of the policy coverage of GDHP member countries. These countries have their own sheets that can be used for inputting and viewing their policy data. With the tool, countries can evaluate digital health maturity, compare policies and identify gaps. Some updates like advanced filtering for country and topic-specific analysis will be added to the tool in the future.
Source: https://gdhp.health/publications-and-resources/gdhp-oecd-policy-repository-tool/
3. The World Health Organization (WHO) released a handbook, ‘Digital Transformation Handbook for Health Supply Chain Architecture.’
WHO published a handbook, ‘Digital Transformation Handbook for Health Supply Chain Architecture,’, providing comprehensive guidance for countries to transform their digital health supply chain (DHSC) systems digitally.
The handbook plays an important role in creating interoperable, scalable and sustainable supply chains globally. It demonstrates a 4-stage approach involving the definition of a holistic DHSC strategy, the definition of the DHSC architecture, the plan for a scalable implementation and sustainable operations and the usage of the DHSC for implementing traceability respectively. Following the stages, the integration with national digital health strategies, IT architectures and health system priorities is emphasized. The handbook promotes standardization for seamless data exchange, increased patient safety and better decision-making processes while recommending the participation of all relevant parties such as ministries, healthcare providers and donors. Additionally, it, aligned with WHO’s SMART guidelines, showcases successful DHSC transformations in countries like Ethiopia, Rwanda and Malawi.
Source: https://iris.who.int/bitstream/handle/10665/379506/9789240101197-eng.pdf?sequence=1
4. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) published a working paper, ‘Artificial Intelligence and the Health Workforce,’ sharing perspectives from medical associations on AI in health.
OECD released ‘Artificial Intelligence and the Health Workforce’ paper which explains challenges in the health workforce and AI as a tool contributing to the improvement of health outcomes. For understanding the perspectives of physician organizations in different countries concerning the adoption of AI tools in healthcare, a survey distributed to medical associations worldwide was prepared in collaboration with World Medical Association (WMA) and the results published in the paper.
The survey, comprises 17 respondents from national medical associations, aims to gather insights on the integration of AI into healthcare practices. A significant majority of the respondents (72% of them) believe that the advantages of AI surpass its potential risks in healthcare. They think that AI allows healthcare professionals to focus more on patient-centered care by streamlining administrative tasks, supporting clinical decision-making and improving patient outcomes. According to the survey, there are some implementation barriers like limited access to high-quality and interoperable data, insufficient training for healthcare professionals on AI technologies and ethical and legal concerns. Overall, these findings emphasize the medical community’s optimism toward AI, acknowledging its potential to transform healthcare settings.
5. California legislated for the regulation of GenAI usage in healthcare settings.
California Governer Gavin Newsom signed AB 3030 into law for regulating the use of generative AI (GenAI) in the healthcare domain. The new law, titled ‘Artificial Intelligence in Health Care Services Bill,’ will become effective on January 1, 2025.
The law aims to improve patient transparency while detecting potential risks related to AI in clinical communications. It particularly targets patient clinical information and AI systems which produce original content. The law applies to written, verbal and visual AI-generated clinical communications and mandates disclaimers identifying them as AI-generated, ensuring patient awareness on AI usage in healthcare settings. According to the law, AI-generated communications must involve instructions on how patients can contact a human healthcare provider. The communications approved by licensed healthcare professionals are exempt from disclosure requirements. Additionally, the law does not apply to non-clinical tasks like appointment scheduling and billing. Experts recommend that healthcare providers and medical facilities begin adapting to new requirements outlined in AB 3030 by flagging AI content eligibly and updating their communication systems.
6. Healthcare leaders have recognized AI as the industry’s most promising technological advancement.
Statista which is an online platform specializing in data gathering and visualization published a survey on November 18. The survey, titled ‘Most Exciting Emerging Technologies for Healthcare According to Healthcare Leaders in the United States in 2024,’ gathered insights from 79 healthcare executives in the U.S. hospitals and health systems.
According to the survey, 63% of the respondents believe that AI is the most exciting emerging technology in healthcare. The second stage belongs to interoperability that was selected by 6% of the participants. Following interoperability, the next most promising technologies selected as genomics/precision medicine at 5%, data analytics at 4%, blockchain technology at 3%, remote patient monitoring at 2% and robotic process automation at 2%.
Source: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1499345/most-exciting-technology-for-healthcare/
7. The World Health Organization (WHO) released a report, ‘COP29 Special Report on Climate Change and Health,’ emphasizing the critical role of digital technologies in carbon emissions reduction.
COP29 Special Report on Climate Change and Health from WHO highlights the usage of digital technologies in protecting the environment. According to the report, these technologies can significantly reduce carbon emissions while yielding financial savings and enhancing health outcomes.
The report mentions that digital health can cut travel and improve efficiency, so digital technologies in healthcare settings contribute to the carbon emissions reduction. Additionally, cross-cutting strategies for the negative impact of climate change on health are mentioned; the digitalization of administrative processes should be among these strategies. Overall, the report suggests that sustainable practices such as using renewable sources and transitioning to electric vehicles should be supported with digital technologies.
8. Mass General Brigham planned to assess different AI models from companies such as Google, Microsoft and Amazon.
Mass General Brigham, an integrated healthcare system engaging in medical search, education and patient care, has established the Healthcare AI Collaborative through partnerships with prominent institutions. The initiative aims to test and publicly rank AI models from tech giants like Google, Microsoft, Amazon and others.
For filling the gap of standardized metrics in healthcare AI, participating clinicians will evaluate nine AI models in simulated clinic settings. The models include products from Microsoft, Amazon Web Services, Google, OpenAI and Harrison.AI. During the evaluation, critical factors, such as report generation, diagnostic accuracy and readability will be assessed. To provide health systems with insights for proper guidance in technology investment and establishing benchmarking standards, the project will produce a leaderboard of AI tools. The results are expected to be shared by the end of the year, bringing benefit to healthcare systems and technology developers.
9. CHIME and KLAS Research released ‘Digital Health Most Wired: National Trends 2024’ report, highlighting significant trends in healthcare IT and digital transformation.
CHIME and KLAS Research published a report, titled ‘Digital Health Most Wired: National Trends 2024,’ presenting a survey which comprises approximately 40% of the United States hospitals. The annual Digital Health Most Wired survey evaluates how effectively healthcare organizations across seven digital health domains use digital technologies.
According to the survey, healthcare organizations have doubled their budgets for information technology year-over-year, embodying increasing investment in digital transformation and patient engagement tools. Additionally, the survey focuses on interoperability progress; electronic health record (EHR) use is expanding among community partners for data exchange and small and medium-sized organizations are advancing in the adoption of the Trusted Exchange Framework and Common Agreement (TEFCA) standards. The survey also emphasizes cybersecurity enhancements by mentioning the organizational use of AI for endpoint, network and cloud security and the partnerships with third-party firms for risk assessment and threat identification. Other aspects of the survey are patient engagement and operational efficiency. According to the survey, the adoption of patient engagement tools demonstrated the highest year-over-year growth, accompanied by a shift toward in-house telehealth management and the evolving utilization of patient portals. In addition to this, many organizations started to use real-time dashboards and tools for decision-making by clinical and operational leaders, alongside the advancement of data governance programs which have gained organizational leadership support.
10. Canadian Medical Association (CMA) and Canada Health Infoway formed a Task Force to address interoperability issues in Canada’s healthcare system.
CMA and Canada Health Infoway partnered with College of Family Physicians of Canada (CFPC) and Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada (Royal College) to create a Task Force involving physician health system leaders and a nursing representative in Canada in March 2024. Efforts on the Task Force lasted for eight months. The Task Force aims to enhance patient care by improving interoperable digital health systems, reduce administrative burdens and support innovation in health data sharing.
According to the report, there are many challenges like clinician burnout, outdated technology, policy gaps and lack of standards in the Canadian healthcare system. Offering in-depth analysis of interoperability issues, the report makes some recommendations for the implementation and use of interoperable digital health solutions. It suggests that federal, provincial and territorial (FPT) governments develop and implement a comprehensive interoperability-based plan that should be controlled by a National Health Data Governance Council within five years. In addition to the guidance recommendation, a national framework should be generated for modern health data management policies. Another province and territory-based recommendation is addressing systemic and educational barriers to healthcare professionals participation in interoperability. Also, the country’s research and development funding organizations are recommended to invest in innovation in digital health for reducing clinician workloads and increasing the capabilities of existing tools and systems.
11. ‘Uniting the UK’s Health Data: A Huge Opportunity for Society’ executive summary was commissioned by England’s Chief Medical Officer, UK National Statistician and NHS England’s National Director for Transformation.
The report ‘Uniting the UK’s Health Data: A Huge Opportunity for Society’, commissioned by England’s Chief Medical Officer, UK National Statistician and NHS England’s National Director for Transformation, reviews the UK health data landscape. It aims to address the inefficiencies in the UK’s health data domain and propose strategies for unlocking the full potential of health data.
The executive summary emphasizes the importance of treating the UK’s health data landscape as critical national infrastructure. According to the report, UK’s extensive health datasets such as NHS records and UK Biobank provide unparalleled research potential if they are managed effectively. This aspect brings the usage of paper records to the table; the summary remarks that the UK’s healthcare industry gets behind in digitization compared with other high-income countries and other sectors. For addressing the paper-based recording, the necessity of developing a comprehensive IT infrastructure is mentioned. The recommendation to establish a national health data access system by leading government health and research bodies is a fundamental step toward the digitization of the country’s health system. Additionally, the report suggests that the health and social care departments in the four UK nations should set a UK-wide approach for data access processes, streamlining interoperability and health data analysis and research. Overall, the recommendations mentioned in the report highlight that digitization, standardization and interoperability drive more efficient, secure and accessible health data systems.
The past month witnessed numerous advancements and reports in healthcare IT, underscoring the pivotal role of digital technologies within healthcare settings. We’re ready to assist healthcare authorities, providers and professionals in the digitalization of healthcare systems with unique domain expertise and extensive products!
As Digital Transformation Handbook for Primary Health Care and Digital Transformation Handbook for Health Supply Chain Architecture from WHO emphasize the importance of interoperability, our Healthcare Interoperability products featured; our FHIR (Fast Health Interoperability Resources) Stack is a HL7 standard protocol identifying the sharing of electronic health records. This centralized solution focuses on the development of integrated health information systems, enhancing healthcare interoperability.
Like interoperability, AI is another critical point in healthcare settings. For example, OECD’s ‘Artificial Intelligence and the Health Workforce’ paper and the survey on the healthcare industry’s most promising technological advancements highlight that AI is an exciting emerging technology for shaping healthcare settings. As Tiga Healthcare Technologies, we develop AI & Analytics products which aim to assist healthcare authorities, managers and professionals leverage AI and Analytics advancements. Our solutions, including Tiga ShareMind, Predis and Mobithera, incorporate AI. Tiga ShareMind, as an excellent platform for health, clears the way for secure and efficient research on healthcare by combining predefined machine learning methods with data analysis. On the other hand, Predis, as an early warning system, detects healthcare and pharma-related anomalies and warns healthcare authorities by using advanced data analysis and specially developed AI models. In addition to these, Mobithera, as a remote and interactive application, leverages AI to redefine and enhance therapeutic interventions in physiotherapy and ergotherapy.
With interoperability and AI, there is another crucial emphasis on sustainability. As the recent WHO report, ‘COP29 Special Report on Climate Change and Health,’ states the urgent need for sustainable practices to mitigate environmental and social challenges, we maintain the same vision. At Tiga Healthcare Technologies, we are committed to minimizing the environmental impact of healthcare IT through sustainable operations guided by environmental, social and governance (ESG) principles. Our sustainability vision comprises eco-friendly technologies and equitable practices to build a greener future.
As healthcare challenges continue to evolve, healthcare IT, particularly AI, plays a crucial role in enhancing our capacity to respond effectively. To address the challenges in healthcare systems, we provide an extensive range of solutions, comprising Healthcare Interoperability, Patient Engagement, Drug Traceability, AI & Analytics, Prescription & Medicine Management, Population Health Management, Personalized Healthcare and Hospital Information System.
Guided by our commitment to transforming healthcare with cutting-edge technologies, we are dedicated to building a brighter future for everyone.
Let's shape the future together with the power of advanced healthcare IT, as always!
