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Digital transformation is the only way we can save our health care system” – opinion piece by Franck Le Ouay and Philippe Ravaud

Digital transformation is the only way we can save our health care system” – opinion piece by Franck Le Ouay and Philippe Ravaud

Temps de lecture :
3
minutes
“We cannot hope to develop digital health care without a clearly defined economic model”

The current health crisis has highlighted the weaknesses of our health care system.

We knew about the challenges of the number of doctors or nurses in certain areas or specialties, the number of beds and the resources of the health care system, but they have become overriding. In confronting the pandemic, our health care system has also come face to face with new problems - the need to report test statistics, to know the real-time availability of intensive care beds, to monitor certain pathologies remotely, to urgently organize  mass and targeted vaccination programs…

New needs to be addressed that require new tools. This pressure on the French health care system will not decrease, as is made evident by demographics - the number of chronic patients was more than 10 million in 2017. By 2030, this number will reach 15 million and the number of people over 75 will have increased by 30%.

Our care model is under constant strain and each year the flu or bronchiolitis epidemic results in a hospital crisis. This situation will not go away when the crisis is over. The resources allocated to the care system seem insufficient given the constant increase in expectations and needs.

Beyond the resources, we have significant systemic efficiency problems, which to date have not been addressed by technological progress, unlike other activities such as financial services or mobility.

To overcome the challenges of the pandemic, two levers have proved very effective. On the one hand, the strong commitment of the care teams and all those involved with hospitals. On the other hand, what was technologically impossible just a few months ago has become the rule in a few short weeks (use of digital co-ordination services, teleconsultation).

Our health care system cannot continue to demand the impossible from caregivers. It will only improve if there is a very strong acceleration of its digital transition.

Digital technology is therefore the only way to preserve our health system. It will ensure its in-depth transformation and improve the quality of care.

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Preventive Medicine. There are many examples of innovations developed in digital health care by French start-ups. The development of connected objects improves the monitoring and prevention of diseases. Artificial intelligence is slowly being implemented in medical imaging to help with complex diagnoses, find the treatment(s) best suited to each patient, monitor the progression of the disease, detect relapses, etc.

Public action must therefore fulfill two objectives. On the one hand, it must develop a rule for assessing the usefulness of digital medical devices. On the other hand, it must deploy a proactive financing process for such devices

These innovations meet the challenges facing us - the number of patients to be treated, the complexity of pathologies, and the need for quality care throughout the country. Developing this preventive, personalized and predictive medicine requires a strong commitment from the State.

Public action must therefore meet two objectives. On the one hand, it must develop a rule for assessing the usefulness of digital medical devices. On the other hand, it must deploy a proactive financing process for such devices. The “DIGA” program in Germany, which steers, evaluates and finances the digitization of health care players, seems to us to be an example to follow.

Developing digital health care is impossible without a clearly defined economic model.

This commitment must also be accompanied by a drastic reduction in the barriers to innovation in hospitals. It currently takes between six months and a year for a hospital to incorporate an innovation. The Ségur de la Santé has made it possible to lay the foundations for a new public e-health policy. The emergence of services dedicated to large-scale interoperability for health care innovations must also make it possible to reduce the time required for incorporating innovations.

Alert. All these issues must therefore be tackled head-on by the public authorities, from the highest level to their practical application. There is a need to get all e-health and public health players around a table in order to define an economic model for digital medical devices.

While the health crisis has revealed our weaknesses, it has served as a useful warning sign and a powerful lever for transformation. To meet the challenges of the next decade, the digitization of our health care system is essential. E-health players and health facilities are ready!

Franck Le Ouay is CEO of the e-health platform Lifen.

Prof. Philippe Ravaud is Director of the Epidemiology Research Center at Inserm and Department Head of the Clinical Epidemiology Center at Hôtel-Dieu Hospital (AP-HP, Paris)

Franck Le Ouay

CEO @Lifen. Après avoir accompagné Criteo (dont il est co-fondateur) jusqu'à son introduction en bourse au Nasdaq, il choisit de s'orienter vers la santé en portant un projet ambitieux qui ait du sens et contribue à améliorer la vie de chacun. C'est ainsi que Lifen est né.

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