Learning in a Digital Society
Digital technologies can only meet the major challenges of healthcare to a certain extent, and applying new advanced technology is a challenge in itself. There is great uncertainty about the extent to which digital healthcare technologies, such as monitoring and risk assessment models, can actually lead to reduced healthcare needs. Healthcare’s ability to predict and prevent care needs among individuals who have not yet contracted the disease is not affected by advances in machine learning, as data on them is lacking in healthcare.
Automation will not be enough to solve the problem of staffing because many tasks in healthcare are difficult, or even impossible, to automate. An overview of health economic evidence shows that digital technologies are often judged to be cost-effective alternatives to regular care. But the cost-effectiveness often depends on patients saving time, or on the technology generating sufficiently large health gains to justify increased healthcare spending. The fact that a technology is considered cost-effective does not mean that it necessarily facilitates the financing of care and social care.
Digital technologies entail risks linked to, among other things, privacy and increased complexity. Adequate training is a prerequisite for being aware of these risks, and thus being able to minimize them or manage their consequences. There are advantages to a common national framework for assessing new technologies. It does not rule out that the final decision on introduction remains with the individual region/municipality. Previous research shows that there are many factors that influence the extent to which new technology is adopted. Two important factors are that the staff is offered relevant training and further education and that there is a willingness to take risks or implement changes.
Coordination problems and conflicts of interest within both care and healthcare can be obstacles to the sweeping changes in working methods and organization that are required to get full exchange of new technology. Services for distance consultations in primary care have been a prominent example of digitization in care. This is a cost-effective alternative to certain types of physical visits, but can hardly play a decisive role in meeting the major challenges of care and care. There is no reason to allow the principles for the approval of new technology to vary within the country. The state should ensure that the dental and pharmaceutical benefits agency (tlv) has sufficient resources for the task of also assessing digital medical technology.
