Digital Innovation in Healthcare Entrepreneurship

Abstract

Advances in technological development are ever increasing at all times; consequently, a rapid increase and changes in digital technology have revolutionized healthcare delivery globally. Digital technologies, which are electronic tools, systems, devices, and resources that generate, store or process data, are known to have impacted health care. They have simplified access to health, lower cost of diagnosis and treatments, and improved communication between doctors and patients in the areas of electronic health (eHealth), storage of and access to medical information and data, generating and storing of big data, improving lines of communication between patients and their doctors, electronic health records (EHRs), telemedicine and telehealth, mobile health (mHealth), online learning (eLearning), health applications, and drones. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, the digital health transformation has increased by leap and bound and would likely play a vital role in fighting current and future pandemics by enabling fundamental shifts in medical care, both during the pandemic and in the aftermath. Despite the gains from digital innovation in health care, they did not come without challenges, which are likely to be more with future advancements in digital technology and health. Virtually all technological tools in health care are associated with challenges, limitations or drawbacks. Notable areas of challenges are related to societal problems, ethical issues, connected health solutions, artificial intelligence, and genomics in precision medicine. The challenges are currently being addressed through digital health research, which, hopefully, would proffer lasting solutions.