Perceptions about connectivity in healthcare systems around the world reveal challenges, according to a new report commissioned by Philips Healthcare.
Nearly 70 percent of the 25,000 patients surveyed said that they feel they have the knowledge to manage their own health. However, only about 40 percent of the 2,600 participating physicians agreed.
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The report, called the Future Health Index, addresses how patients and doctors see the state of digitalization in three main areas of the healthcare system: access, integration of the various parts of the system and the current level of adoption of devices and systems allowing for connectivity. This is the first attempt at what Philips expects to become an annual study.
Results show “a bit of disagreement between patients and healthcare providers,” said Dr. Jan Kimpen, chief medical officer of Philips Healthcare.
“Although there is a lot of data, the sharing of the data is a problem,” Kimpen added. He said that most of the respondents use some kind of connective device or application but “the data from the devices is not readily shared” when they go to the doctor’s office.
He also found it particularly interesting is that both physicians and patients in multiple countries expressed a belief that bureaucracy is a stumbling block to healthcare connectivity.
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Participants were drawn from Australia, Brazil, China, France, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Singapore, South Africa, Sweden, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the U.S.
The report assigned each country an average score out of 100, but the results ranked perceptions regarding connectivity, rather than the quality of the healthcare. Kimpen mentioned the difference in the ranking of the UAE, which received one of the highest scores at 65.3, and Japan, which got a 49.0.
“That doesn’t mean healthcare is worse in Japan,” Kimpen said, noting that Japan has had a healthcare system for a long time and it is taking longer to assimilate to connectivity and digitalization whereas, in the UAE, “they are building a system right now, so they can incorporate connective devices.”
