Fenin and Esade bring together the administration and experts to accelerate digitalisation to improve the efficiency and quality of healthcare

The process of digitalisation of healthcare has been driven since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic by the need to avoid physical contact between people – and this has favoured the use of digital solutions to maintain the quality of healthcare. This trend has been reflected in the Health Technology Sector Meeting, organised by Esade and the Spanish Federation of Healthcare Technology Companies (Fenin). The event, entitled ‘The digital transformation of healthcare’, was attended by representatives of the administration as well as experts – and analysed the process of digitalising the healthcare system.

‘The Covid-19 pandemic accelerated by several years the need to modernise healthcare and taught us that systems that opted for innovation and digitalisation are more resilient from a socio-health and economic point of view’, said Maria Luz López-Carrasco, president of Fenin. She added that it is necessary to reflect on how agents in the healthcare chain can work together towards digitalisation –which is now a priority on the political agenda.

As the president of Fenin pointed out, the Next Generation EU fund represents a unique opportunity to move towards a healthcare system based on the concept of ‘smart health’ and which because of digitalisation will be more effective and capable of dealing with health emergencies. ‘We want to contribute to building a more modern, smarter, and more sustainable national health service – and we know that the healthcare technology sector can help administrations achieve this aim’, she stressed.

On this point, López-Carrasco recalled that Fenin has prepared a ‘national project' that proposes effective and realistic formulas for administrations to transform and digitalise the national health system and healthcare business.

Mario Lara, director of Esade in Madrid, explained that the application of technology to the health sector cannot ignore the human dimension. He added that: ‘massive data management is improving care and prevention, as well as improving the management of supply chains – a vital task as we have seen in this crisis’.

The meeting included the perspective of the administration with the participation of Galo Gutiérrez, director general of Industry and Small Businesses at the Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Tourism, who discussed the digital transformation of healthcare in his opening speech. For his part, Ángel Sánchez Aristi, director general of Digitalisation and Artificial Intelligence at the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation, focused on the application of artificial intelligence.

Expanding telemedicine

Telemedicine has experienced exponential growth during the current crisis and was the subject of a roundtable moderated by Manel Peiró, director of the Institute for Healthcare Management at Esade.

The patients' point of view was provided by Dr José Luis Baquero, director and scientific coordinator of the Spanish Patients' Forum and a trustee of the Technology and Health Foundation. In his opinion, the pandemic has highlighted the value of technology, especially information and communication technologies. He states that telemedicine has played a key role and ‘it complements and improves the quality of care. It must be part of the humanisation of patient treatment as is also the case with face-to-face consultations’, he says.

He also pointed out that the use of the telephone, the main means of communication during the pandemic, is totally inadequate for telemedicine. Another aspect he highlighted is that communication has been one-way from the health centre to the patient – and he believes it is necessary to strengthen patient contacts with health professionals.

Another challenge raised by Dr Baquero is the approach to chronic diseases, which requires the strengthening of home care, and where technological support is essential. Technology can also help avoid errors in medication, a serious problem that may have increased during the current crisis, according to the Forum's president.

To ensure that telemedicine benefits patients and the system, Dr Baquero sees the need to involve patient organisations in setting objectives in the design of these solutions in a multidisciplinary approach.

The roundtable featured the perspective of the ecosystem of digital health companies with the participation of Luis Badrinas, executive director of Barcelona Health Hub. He believes that the ‘digital transformation of healthcare places the patient at the centre of attention’. One of the telemedicine initiatives launched by Barcelona Health Hub, with the collaboration of the Esade Institute of Health Management, is the #YoPacienteDigital project, which is supporting a study on virtual health consultation and the benefits for health systems: https://barcelonahealthhub.com/telemedicine/.

Cristina Bescós, director general of EIT Health Spain of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology, Europe's leading health innovation body, also presented her point of view on the development of telemedicine in the light of the Covid crisis.

The event ended with the presentation of the Tenth Social Responsibility Awards by Fenin secretary general, Margarita Alfonsel. These awards are given by Fenin in recognition of outstanding commitments by organisations and companies to their corporate social responsibilities.