MedTech, Sweden: Cognizant’s Global Healthcare and Life Sciences Consulting Leader Says Regulatory Framework in Sweden can be Modified to Use Innovative Technologies for Connected Healthcare

“As multiple Swedish counties embark on large healthcare IT reform projects, the primary objective is to improve the overall quality of care by giving healthcare staff the tools that ease the administrative workload and also allow patients to interact easily with medical staff,” says Trish Birch. “Technology can also drive the development toward a connected preventive care.” Excerpts:

“Although new technology has created an array of opportunities to connect hospitals, doctors, nurses and patients, the hurdles that have halted the launch of the e-Hälsomyndigheten’s (e-health department) project to create a personal e-health account system is a reminder that there are a number of potential challenges in implementing a connected healthcare system.

The various counties’ current IT reform plans present a timely opportunity to look at how Personuppgiftslagen, the current regulatory framework that closely guards patient information, can be modified to allow the use of a number of innovative technologies without compromising basic privacy.

With a reformed legal framework in place, the different parts of the healthcare system can converge and share information, which would lay the ground for a truly patient-centric healthcare system.

Of course, the foundation for successful digital transformation in healthcare often lies in optimizing the overall IT system. This means simplifying the underlying IT infrastructure and integrating analytics solutions on top that can pool information from now disconnected systems.

If patients make their health data voluntarily accessible to healthcare staff, the rich amounts of data in those profiles could serve as basis for more informed diagnoses, better communication between medical staff and patients, higher likelihood of treatment compliance and overall improved health and fitness coaching.

As healthcare systems across Sweden embark on a project to reform and prepare their IT systems for the future, it would be timely to review how Personuppgiftslagen can be updated to both ensure patients’ right to privacy and to allow a strategy that enables connected healthcare.”

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