Health Technologies

3 September 2021

Health Technologies

KEY CONCLUSIONS

Digitalization and science are the main drivers of development in the healthcare system. Businesses see a hybrid system operating in the future, with clinics continuing to exist, while the government is looking to digital technologies as a powerful aid in the medical care system

“The digital sphere and science are the two main drivers of development in the healthcare system. Our strategic target is to move away from very early disease diagnosis, and towards prevention. Genetic research and technology will of course come to our aid in this area. We need to traverse a path whereby we will be able to identify genetic markers, predictors of disease, and manage them. <...> Our objective is the soft integration of digital technologies into the medical care system. Under no circumstances do we view this as a substitution for traditional medicine – a substitution for seeing your general practitioner, having consultations, and so on. Digital technologies are rather a powerful aid in the medical care system, and we have pinned great hopes on them,” Victor Fisenko, First Deputy Minister of Health of the Russian Federation.

“Digitalization is something which will undoubtedly help both doctors and patients,” Irina Yarovaya, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation.

“We believe in the hybrid model, because digital technologies cannot replace physical contact – the patient must be grounded somewhere. That’s why we think that we will all experience a combination of brick-and-mortar clinics with digital aspects at some point in the future,” Sergei Sidorov, Chairman of the Board of Directors, Medscan.

PROBLEMS

Care must be taken during the digitalization of the healthcare system to avoid the creation of “information graveyards”. New systems must make life easier for healthcare workers, and not lead to piles of unstructured paperwork

“Information must not be stored in an archive – such an approach can lead to the creation of so‑called information graveyards. Similarly, information should not be stored in an assembled state, where it goes unused. It needs to be used in real time. One of the objectives of a customer‑centric healthcare system is to ensure that this information can be shared with the medical community... That includes the scientific community, because nobody can say what pandemics and coronavirus variants may arise tomorrow. It is vital that data is properly put to work,” Timur Akhmerov, General Director, BARS Group.

“When we write things on paper, and then begin to fill out a medical record in a completely unstructured way, using Word, pasting in some medical notes, it goes without saying that this is not digital transformation at all. <...> A system like this is of little help, and it just means a pile of paper has become a pile of unstructured paperwork. This is hardly capitalizing on information technology. <...> A medical organization needs to create a set of structured primary data which can then be lifted and analysed. And it needs to implement solutions accordingly,” Victor Fisenko, First Deputy Minister of Health of the Russian Federation.

“Too many IT systems suffer from the fact that the government spends a lot of money on them, and yet the effectiveness of fragmented systems is open to question,” Irina Yarovaya, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation.

SOLUTIONS

Patients can be better observed if special systems are created. These need to be integrated with one another. At the same time, an audit of old systems should be conducted

“One of the pathways we can traverse involves the creation of diagnostic test systems to identify diseases. This is likely something we want to do in the near future. We are currently working on an initiative that would form part of the front-end system – medical science for people. One of the elements of this would be the creation of genetic passports. This would apply to newborns, and to all our citizens. It would make it possible to adopt a flexible and effective approach to managing patients’ health. <...> As part of a federal project to create an integrated digital space, we are fulfilling objectives related to having functioning medical information systems in the regions. If there are several of them in one region, they should be integrated via a bus and be interconnected. An archive of medical images is being created. When running tests, doctors can upload them onto the archive, and other doctors with access can look at them,” Victor Fisenko, First Deputy Minister of Health of the Russian Federation.

“Before creating any kind of new system, I think it is crucial to conduct an audit of old ones. We should understand why they don’t work, why we forget about them, and then go about creating new ones. <...> During the COVID-19 pandemic, our country and the ministry amassed an enormous amount of beneficial experience. Our system proved to be the most professional one there is. Now we need to take these practices and apply them to the reality that exists in the personnel system. We need to address the personnel deficit and the state of medical institutions,” Irina Yarovaya, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation.

For more information, visit the Roscongress Foundation’s Information and Analytical System at roscongress.org/en.

Health Technologies

Read more