Demographic trends in Germany are causing demand for healthcare services to rise faster than the capacity of service providers. Geographical imbalances lead to a relative shortage of doctors, nurses and therapists.
Close networking of centralized and decentralized healthcare facilities and the use of innovative technologies could make it easier to overcome these challenges.
Pandemics show us the many ways in which digital solutions can be beneficial in the healthcare sector and show us where Germany’s deficits lie in terms of infrastructure and applications.
The expert group Intelligent Health Networks has set itself the goal of making a significant contribution to the rapid implementation of intelligent networking in standard care. To this end, the expert group aims to bring together relevant stakeholders, pool experience and make it available to decision-makers in the federal government, the federal states, municipalities and cities as well as companies and associations. It aims to highlight current developments in innovative digital care models, contribute to the sustainable implementation of intelligent healthcare networks and promote training and further education measures in the field of healthcare IT. In particular, it aims to provide political decision-makers at all levels of government with guidance.
The aim of the expert group in 2021 is to identify important next steps and measures for the digitalization of the German healthcare system that will contribute to the next legislative period:
In 2020, the increased demand for medical treatment capacity will be offset by a decreasing supply of doctors. Telemedicine secures medical care even in structurally weak regions. Individualization of medicine enables tailored therapies with the best possible treatment results. Key target components are:
In 2020, the roadmap for the nationwide operation of telemedicine set out in the 2011 Care Structures Act will be implemented. Greater legal certainty in IT outsourcing creates the basis for the use of specialized service providers. The possibilities of the electronic health card are being fully utilized. Key
target components are
In 2020, intelligent knowledge databases will help to make intelligent use of the constantly growing range of information and support practitioners and patients. Pharmacology in particular will be able to provide targeted and individualized treatment. The traditional first healthcare market will be increasingly networked with the second healthcare market through intelligent IT applications and offer further quality-assured medical target group information. Key target image components are
In 2020, seamless medical care is ensured even in decentralized regions through close cooperation between service providers with IT support. Patients are supported in their home environment with IT, sensors and actuators to avert dangerous situations. All data relevant to the care process is available to all relevant service providers. The semantics and ontologies of the different systems are interoperable. Key target image components are:
In 2020, patients, healthcare professionals and the healthcare system will benefit from advances in genome analysis and personalized medicine, the miniaturization of sensors with the increased possibilities of decentralized diagnostics and therapy, video communication and the supporting and relieving functions provided by avatars, medical expert systems, robots and electronic health records. The Internet of Everything networks these components and thus forms the basis of intelligent healthcare networks. Key target image components are:
The results of the Intelligent Health Networks expert group can be found in our publication archive.
