The health sector is one of the hardest hit and most targeted by cyberattacks

• According to American Medical Association data, 900 million virtual consultations took place in the United States alone in 2019, a 14% increase in just 3 years.

Santo Domingo. – Because of the importance of the data it handles, the health sector is one of the hardest hit and most targeted by cyberattacks. The challenges it faces are even more complex than those banks faced some 20 years ago, in the 1990s.

“It’s not just a security issue; the protection of clinical data, confidentiality and the regulatory framework for identity protection are also extremely important,” explains Fedor Vidal, international expert in health sector technology and digital transformation and CEO of Arium Salud Digital.

According to AMA (American Medical Association) data, 900 million virtual consultations took place in the United States alone in 2019, a 14% increase in just 3 years.

Meanwhile, a study by Forbes puts savings for medical centres at 30% of costs through the adoption of clinical systems to support operations.

In patient safety, studies show that technology has in some cases prevented up to 60% of medical errors through drug interaction systems and evidence-based clinical orders.

The biggest impact for health tourism is clinical data through protocolisation. In addition, with digitalised health indicators, a destination can compare itself with others in terms of clinical quality, which is a differentiating factor when patients make a decision.

“Another very important element for boosting health tourism through digitalisation is the adoption of international standards that allow clinical information to be exchanged between the destination and the patient’s home country, having a positive impact on pre- and post-care processes.”

Digital health plays an even more important role given the shortage of doctors, nurses and other health professionals, especially in rural and remote areas, estimated at 4.3 million workers, 800,000 of them in the Americas; hence the need to improve connectivity and technology solutions, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

In the country

The Dominican Republic has made progress in both private and public health services, but it has major limitations when it comes to managing uniform and reliable statistics, remote access to its technology platforms, appropriate use of the information patients generate throughout the health sector value chain and, therefore, decision-making based on quality information.

This situation and these weaknesses show how important it is to change and modernise health sector processes so that players are not left fragmented and truly patient-centred care can be delivered.

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Arium Salud Digital

A company that provides digital services and tools to transform how existing processes are managed in the health sector through interconnected systems, while facilitating interaction between the different players in the market and providing technological solutions for their effectiveness. Arium Salud Digital’s mission is to provide a digital health ecosystem that interconnects all the key players in the sector, with the aim of improving people’s quality of life through efficient and secure solutions based on state-of-the-art technology.

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