Digital health: it involves much more than buying technology
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According to the 1st Study on the State of Digital Health in the Dominican Republic, 56% of respondents said that, despite the intention to implement digital health, there is not the necessary understanding of what the process involves.
Santo Domingo: – Governance and leadership in the Dominican health system have traditionally been an area for improvement. The system also lacks strong stewardship, to the point of a worrying perception that the Dominican State has little interest in overseeing economically exploitable sectors.
This is reflected in the 1st Study on the State of Digital Health in the Dominican Republic, carried out by Arium Salud Digital, which highlights the need for someone to take the lead in organising, bringing together and guiding digital health in the country, in both the public and private sectors.
According to Fedor Vidal, CEO of Arium Salud Digital, an important part of guiding digital health processes, regardless of the sector or scope, is understanding what digital transformation in health involves. The experience in Latin America is that these processes are misunderstood, in both the public and private sectors.
Most Latin American countries show interest, but usually with a mistaken understanding. Seeing the implementation of electronic health records as a technology purchase is where the mistake begins.
It is important to understand that digital health involves much more than buying technology. Investment, vision and human resources all come together
Most Latin American countries show interest, but usually with a mistaken understanding. Seeing the implementation of electronic health records as a technology purchase is where the mistake begins. It is important to understand that digital health involves much more than buying technology. Investment, vision and human resources all come together.
The Dominican Republic is no exception. The study found that 56% of respondents said that, despite a desire or intention to implement digital health, there is not the necessary understanding of what the process involves.
As for the existence of a national or sector-wide digital health governance structure, 73.1% of respondents deny or are unaware that such structures exist, while the remaining 26.9% say they do.
Vidal believes that for digital health to succeed in the country, it is important to have plural sector governance structures that bring together all the players in the sector.
The research also notes that the private sector is not included in the discussions held in the sub-committee created as part of the digital transformation cabinet or under the mandate of the 2030 Digital Agenda. For those consulted, this is a long-standing culture, given how little the State is used to collaborating even between public bodies.
Willingness to invest in health information technology
The reasons identified in the survey for the low willingness to invest include the difficult economic situation of the post-pandemic world; a sector culture in which “the urgent prevents the important”, and in which the hospital is still seen as a care provider rather than as a “social enterprise that produces services”; and practices driven mainly by the ups and downs of politics.
Another point to note is that the main difficulty the public sector faces in making these investments is the availability of financial resources. Some 68.4% say there are budget constraints that prevent the necessary investments at institutional or sector level, while the remaining 31.6% say they have or have had access to the resources required for certain initiatives.
In the private sector the picture is more encouraging, as most responses, 71.1%, point to a willingness to make these investments, with exceptions of 29.9%. As might be expected, the availability of resources for these investments is not a problem for most respondents either.
Among the strengths of the country’s digital health transformation process, several respondents said that interest in investing in information technology is growing. Traditionally, technology investment in the health sector has tended to go to medical technology, which is used for diagnostic and therapeutic services and guarantees a certain economic return.
Arium Salud Digital
Arium Salud Digital is a company that provides digital services and tools to transform how existing processes are managed in the health sector through interconnected systems, facilitating interaction between market players and providing technology solutions for their effectiveness. The mission of Arium Salud Digital is to provide a digital health ecosystem that connects all the sector’s key players, with the aim of improving the population’s quality of life through efficient and secure solutions based on state-of-the-art technology.