Boosting digital health: from challenges to innovative solutions

The pandemic has accelerated the transformation of health ecosystems. 

This emerging explosion of digital health: open new opportunities to improve health outcomes and contribute to the sustainability of the health system.

Two fields are especially relevant in this area: The creation of Data Lake with health data and technology applied in solutions to predict, diagnose and treat a wide spectrum of diseases and disorders.

There is an EMA initiative for creating a huge sanitary 'data lake'. That is, a repository of storage of anonymous raw and virtual data, which can be used to improve healthcare. In this way, this information can be processed with 'big data' tools to obtain valid data almost immediately. The application of these techniques allows inferring a layer of intelligence, in which the application of predictive models that help anticipate health needs and offer more effective medical care is especially relevant.

Digital health is here to stay and will significantly influence healthcare delivery around the world. These technologies have the potential to change the current paradigm of treatments in some pathologies by being able to combine medicines with digital services / treatments, even replace them. Regulatory authorities, including European Authorities and the FDA, recognise the potential of digital health and encourage such innovations. It is necessary to promote the transfer of technologies in real solutions that have a positive and sustainable impact on the system by all the stakeholders involved in this area.