Digital technologies offer unique opportunities to strengthen health systems. However, the digital infrastructure, interoperability standards, and data sharing only provide the tools, which on their own cannot transform the health systems, but need to be put to productive use by the health workers.
This report discusses how to engage and empower the health workforce to make the most of the digital revolution by:
building trust in the benefits of digital health technologies among health workers and patients;
ensuring that digital technologies truly meet the needs of health workers and their patients;
advancing expertise and skills needed within the health sector for effective co-design, deployment, and use of digital health technologies;
adapting payment systems and the organisation of work such that health workers can timely and effectively start using digital solutions and tools.
This report was prepared for the 2020 German Presidency of the Council of the European Union and with support from the German Federal Ministry of Health. It was released at the conference “Digital Health 2020 - EU on the Move", organised on 11 November by the German Federal Ministry of Health, within the 2020 German Presidency of the Council of the European Union. The aim of the Conference is to stimulate the discussion on the steps necessary to advance the digital transformation of health systems.