How to ensure digital transformation in healthcare reaches its potential

While almost every part of healthcare has been touched by AI and innovative technologies, digital health has yet to deliver on its promise. Since 2010, digital health companies have received more than $100 billion in venture capital funding in the US alone and efforts in low- and middle-income countries have been backed by billions of additional funding, yet healthcare systems remain extraordinarily complex and fragmented. This is owing in part to the fact the systems have primarily been implementing point solutions, which address just a small portion of overall patient journeys, when we desperately need integrated, end-to-end digital health transformation to improve outcomes faster and more efficiently.

Around the world, perennial challenges in healthcare systems persist. Healthcare systems face record-high healthcare costs and severe workforce shortages. Globally, the WHO estimates a projected shortfall of 10 million health workers by 2030. This comes at the very moment when demand for care is growing and inequities persist. Chronic diseases are becoming more prevalent, yet over half of the world’s population, 4.5 billion people, still lack access to essential healthcare services.

Digital, data, and AI solutions are powerful tools to address these persistent and growing healthcare system challenges. But we must leverage these tools in the right ways; as Bill Gates famously said, “The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency.”

For digital solutions to integrate into healthcare systems and have transformative impact, public and private stakeholders must actively collaborate on the world’s most pressing healthcare problems and put the right enablers in place. No single group has the tools or capabilities to singlehandedly unlock digital transformation.

Based on interactions conducted by the World Economic Forum and Boston Consulting Group with more than 80 multi-sectoral leaders in healthcare and technology highlighted in our new Insight Report Transforming Healthcare: Navigating Digital Health with a Value-Driven Approach, and the Forum’s longstanding experience in value-driven systems transformation, we have outlined five key enablers that must be in place:

Digital and AI have the potential to deliver unparalleled improvements in patient outcomes, efficiency, personalization, and accessibility, but we must roll up our sleeves. We can envision a healthcare system where advanced digital tools and AI-driven analytics enable early detection and intervention. Efficiency becomes the cornerstone of healthcare delivery, reducing wait times and administrative burdens, and allowing healthcare professionals to focus less on administrative tasks and more on patient care. Remote monitoring and telehealth services break down geographical and socioeconomic barriers, providing quality healthcare to previously underserved populations.

We are already seeing some very promising digital health initiatives that are scaling up quickly. Below are just a few examples, of many:

While these efforts are beginning to achieve digital health at scale, we still have a great deal of work to do. To support this movement, the Forum, together with Boston Consulting Group, is launching a new flagship initiative on value-driven Digital Healthcare Transformation. The Forum will leverage its unique position to convene private industry with public stakeholders to build powerful and sustainable ecosystems that can accelerate the digital revolution in healthcare.

The human stakes couldn't be any higher. To achieve our vision, public and private stakeholders must collaborate and focus on catalysing change over the long term and at the system-wide level. It is time to build a healthcare system that is truly affordable, equitable, and consistently capable of delivering the highest quality of care.

Additional contributions by: Yasmin Dias-Guichot, Lead, Health Systems Transformation, World Economic Forum and Antonio Spina, Lead, Digital and AI Health, World Economic Forum.