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Guest article: Health technology – trends, challenges and opportunities

Almost 20 years ago, in 2005, the World Health Organization (WHO) issued a resolution calling on member states to consider so-called "e-health" strategies and infrastructure for modern healthcare in order to reap the benefits of "equitable, cost-effective, and widespread access." Since then, there have been many initiatives, but the most striking change is the distinction between the pre- and post-COVID-19 pandemic periods. On the one hand, the COVID-19 pandemic has further widened the healthcare gap between high- and low-income countries due to disruptions in (pharmaceutical) supply chains or a lack of access to comprehensive hygiene and protective measures. On the other hand, the lockdowns have highlighted the advantages of digital healthcare alternatives and technologies and accelerated their adoption.

Guest author Florentine Genss May 23, 2024

There is no doubt that health technology offers enormous opportunities. As estimated by the WHO in its Triple Billion Program (2019-2023), health technology could:

  • More than one billion people have access to healthcare,
  • and more than a billion people will be better protected from health emergencies,
  • and more than one billion people achieve improved health and well-being.

Health technology: trends and market potential

The term "health technology" encompasses a wide range of services and offerings. Globally, the digital healthcare market is estimated to exceed USD 250 billion (2023) with a compound annual growth rate of 19 percent between 2023 and 2030. Keywords in this area include the Internet of Things (IoT), virtual care, remote monitoring, artificial intelligence (AI), big data analytics, blockchain, smart wearables, and telemedicine.

In summary, health technology can be described as tools that enable the transfer, storage, linking, and analysis of health data across the entire care cycle—from research and regulatory approval to education and diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up. This leads to improved therapeutic outcomes and higher quality of care.

These are the biggest challenges in the health technology sector

The healthcare system is a complex network of interacting parties, including providers (e.g., doctors, clinics, pharmacies), payers (e.g., government, insurance companies), companies (e.g., medical technology, pharmaceutical manufacturers), voluntary foundations, patient associations, and private households. There are several challenges to overcome on the path to digitizing this complex system. The five most significant are:

  1. Patient safety and patient-centeredness: Ensuring that (digital) health solutions put patients at the center. A helpful approach to this are DMPs (Disease Management Programs), which currently exist for some chronic diseases such as asthma, COPD, and coronary heart disease, involving specialists and patient associations.
  2. ethics: In Germany, the involvement of the Central Ethics Committee, established by the Executive Board of the German Medical Association, is important in this regard. In addition, the consideration and updating of guidelines, i.e., systematically developed recommendations for action regarding diagnoses and indications, is important.
  3. Access and scalability: There are numerous barriers, such as a patchy supply infrastructure due to a shortage of skilled workers, resulting in weeks of waiting times, and increased costs. At the same time, regulatory requirements must be observed. These can, on the one hand, create incentives for innovation, but their consideration often also delays the scaling of solutions, for example, through limited advertising under the German Medicines Advertising Act.
  4. Interoperability: Modularity and compatibility with different systems, as well as user-friendliness, are crucial. The systems must be understood to be used effectively.
  5. Data security and protectionHealth data is among the most sensitive data of all. Compliance with data protection laws such as the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is therefore essential.

Healthtech as a game changer: These five advantages could change care and treatment forever

Despite all the challenges, health technologies and innovations offer the greatest leverage to ensure the quality of medical care in the future:

  1. Efficiency and effectiveness: Improving resource utilization and treatment outcomes through the use of technology.
  2. Patient-centeredness: An individualized approach in both research and treatment is necessary to address specific needs and enable personalization (e.g., through precision medicine) beyond a "one size fits all" approach. This includes, for example, considering a gender-specific context and life cycle, such as female patients who have historically been underrepresented in clinical trials ("gender data gap").
  3. Collaboration and partnerships: Public-private partnerships, joint ventures and open source initiatives promote innovation.
  4. sustainability: Sustainability in the sense of resource conservation (e.g. improvement of waste management), but also in the sense of treatment (e.g. promotion of preventive measures).
  5. Access to health information: Increasing health literacy through better access to relevant health information and educational resources that support patients, providers, and healthcare professionals in making better decisions.

Already enormous potential through healthtech in everyday life

Health technology is at an inflection point and offers immense opportunities. While digitalization is revolutionizing healthcare and making it more accessible, we must ensure that these technologies are safe, ethical, and accessible to all. Case studies like SORMAS (Disease Outbreak Monitoring and Analysis Platform) in Nigeria demonstrate how digital innovations can already have a lasting impact in certain parts of the world. The use of AI will also multiply the potential for possible applications in the coming years.

However, much remains to be done to achieve the global health goals and ensure fairer and more efficient healthcare. Especially for our healthcare system in Germany, which is still considered one of the leading in the world, we need a digitalization push to maintain high quality of care. However, it is important to put aside national perspectives and – despite different healthcare systems – think in European dimensions.

Focus on similarities, not differences

The vision is to focus on commonalities and not cling to established differences that are considered "non-negotiable." In my opinion, this is the only way to achieve change and innovation over stagnation. This requires a certain degree of proactivity, specifically: helping to shape discussions and trying out different approaches.

This is exactly what we want to achieve with the health.tech It will bring together the most important European and international thought leaders, as well as a selection of 100 innovative startups in the health technology sector and a reflection of the entire ecosystem of investors, organizations, and companies.

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