The rise of Healthcare Digital Platforms – thoughts from our CEO
There is no doubt about it: Digitalization has transformed our day-to-day lives. Hardly an hour goes by when we do not go online to arrange a vacation with booking.com or order some new product from Amazon. Our regular, everyday activities have largely shifted to digital platforms.
We all know what “digital platforms” are in practice, but how can we best define their role and function?
Digital platforms bring together customer groups with similar interests, using network technologies and often data pools to provide superior services to customers, such as a wider choice of service providers. Already, they encompass practically all areas of the economy. The healthcare market is no exception. Covid-19 is one of the many factors accelerating the development and acceptance of digital healthcare. The pandemic has created new demand from health consumers, particularly for remote services, and greater endorsement of such services in general. There is little doubt among experts that platforms will significantly transform the healthcare sector in the coming years. Industry platforms (i.e health insurance) already integrate healthcare services and different technologies to provide a customized, end-to-end solution for users and patients. Applying new business models enables an improved customer experience with easy access to different services and treatments, greater efficiency, and – in theory, at least – improved outcomes.
What is the different nature of digital platforms?
A wide range of platforms currently occupies the healthcare space, ranging from “pure data platforms” to “integrated meta-platforms”.
First up is the pure data platform. These platforms create value out of collecting and analyzing large amounts of data, which is then used to improve diagnoses and generate personalized treatment plans, as well as better and more tailored products and services, ultimately leading to better outcomes. Pure data platforms also enhance patient engagement.
Platforms with vertical integration generally focus either on a specific indication, such as cancer or diabetes, or on a specific treatment setting.
Platforms with horizontal integration do not focus on specific indications but integrate different steps along the value chain or patient journey. Quite often, they connect players from different parts of the healthcare value chain, such as pharmaceutical companies with pharmacies, or telemedicine providers with hospitals. In this way, they support collaboration across disciplines and specialties. Some also operate across international borders.
Integrated meta-platforms operate on an even larger scale. They interlink most of the players in a specific healthcare system and are both vertically and horizontally integrated. Some integrated meta-platforms go even further, encompassing a country’s entire public health system.
What are the benefits of adopting a cloud-native platform
No matter what type of platform you will encompass, all these platforms will be successfully adopted if they are flexible and scalable, and data can be securely transferred enabling integration of different providers and analog services.
Most important adoption will also depend on the ability of the platform to provide an “omnichannel experience” to end customer
Indeed, a very future likely scenario is the development of patient-centered healthcare built around collaborative ecosystems with different entry points, depending upon the individual’s needs (prevention, diagnosis, treatment). Users – both healthy individuals and those requiring treatment – will be able to access a combination of analog and digital services, from consultations and fitness programs to physiotherapy sessions. In this scenario, individual’s data will be accessible and enriched in real-time by users and healthcare providers in order to create increased customer value and reach experience
Mia Care software suite contains unique capabilities and resources to seamlessly design, build, deliver, and orchestrate digital service for every type of digital platform leveraging a modern web architecture based on fast data, process automation, containerization, and advanced analytics. Our Platform is state of the art and compliant with security and privacy regulations both for EU and US applications and it is designed to allow easy integration with PA/EHR infrastructures.
Conclusions
We are in the era of digitalization where changes will occur recurrently and inadvertently, and healthcare companies need to encompass IT functions closer to their strategic bodies to be ready to undertake the new challenges arising from the market. By conceiving a secure and efficient composable architecture through the adoption of a digital healthcare platform dedicated to governing all the digital projects developed for sustaining the long-term strategy.
