Royal Philips, a global leader in health technology, has unveiled the Asia Pacific (APAC) findings of its Future Health Index (FHI) 2022 report titled ‘Healthcare hits reset: Priorities shift as healthcare leaders navigate a changed world.’ Now in its seventh year, the Future Health Index 2022 report is based on proprietary research from almost 3,000 respondents conducted across 15 countries and explores how healthcare leaders are harnessing the power of data and digital technology as they look to address key challenges coming out of the pandemic.
This year’s report reveals that healthcare leaders across the APAC region are looking to data and predictive technologies as the foundations of their future healthcare systems. However, significant challenges also stand in the way of realizing this goal.
APAC leading in championing data, AI & predictive analytics
APAC’s healthcare leaders are global front runners when it comes to recognizing the benefits of data to their organizations, with 82% of leaders agreeing that the value of data to their facility is worth the time and resources invested — placing them on par with the United States and significantly ahead of the global (65%) and European (60%) averages.
The Philippines has recognized the transformative power of data to improve both patient outcomes and operational efficiencies for providers within the country’s healthcare system. Last year, The Philippine House of Representatives approved House Bill (HB) No. 10245 — also known as the eHealth System and Services Act. The bill aims to make healthcare data accessible for evidence-based decision making. The Senate also authored a version of the bill, which provides added policy frameworks and regulatory measures.
Countries across the region are also aligned in recognizing the importance of investing into AI and predictive analytics within the next 3 years. Over half (55%) of APAC healthcare leaders are already investing heavily in AI, while 82% predict it will become a top investment area within the next 3 years. This includes uses related to diagnosis or treatment recommendations, early warning scores, automatic disease detection and clinical decision guidelines. Using AI to predict outcomes (34%) and to integrate diagnostics (33%) follow closely behind in terms of priority.
Data silos, staffing and other barriers hindering full data utilization
However, significant areas of improvement remain in realizing the ambition of using data, AI and predictive analytics as key enablers of future healthcare systems. In clinical settings specifically, 41% of APAC leaders are sharing data with third-party organizations, 40% are using data for predictive analytics, 30% are collecting and storing data, and 28% are using data to automate tasks.
Nearly three quarters (73%) of APAC’s healthcare leaders cite data silos as hindering their ability to use data effectively, far above the global average of 51%. Other hurdles such as technical infrastructure limitations (23%), data privacy and security concerns (21%), data policy and regulations (21%), resistance among staff to using upgraded or more advanced technologies (20%), lack of clarity on legal liability (20%), and difficulties managing high volumes of data (20%) also rank highly.
Partnering with other ecosystem players could be one way to address some of these challenges. APAC healthcare leaders believe that joining forces with health technology companies could provide their healthcare facilities with counsel on contingency planning (30%), guidance and/or services for data analysis and interpretation to ensure continuous improvement (28%), and to provide resources and/or services for continuous maintenance (27%).
In line with the recognition of data as a tool to streamline healthcare organizations, last year, the Department of Health (DOH) and the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) released Joint Administrative Order 2021-002 which recognizes the vital role of Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) in the creation of a comprehensive approach to health. The order seeks to address data inconsistencies across the country’s healthcare service delivery chain by establishing national health data standards that enable a seamless and interoperable flow of health services and information.
While appreciation of the value of data and its benefit to clinical decision support may be high across APAC, the level of current knowledge and awareness of how to use data to inform decision-making is still lacking and widely disparate. On average, more than half of APAC’s leaders (55%) say they do not know how to use data to inform decision making, far above the global average of 35%.
Workforce resistance, skills and knowledge gaps also rank highly as another barrier to data utilization in APAC (35%). Nearly three quarters (74%) of the region’s healthcare leaders say their staff are overwhelmed by the volume of data available today, significantly higher than the global average of 55%, whilst one in five (21%) feel that staff training and education would be one of the best ways to help their facility to do more with data.
In line with global trends, the Future Health Index 2022 report reveals a renewed focus on staff welfare as the region emerges from the pandemic. As staff shortages and burnout continue to plague the industry, almost one-third (30%) of healthcare leaders place employee satisfaction and retention at the top of their priority list, on par with the global average. In the Philippines, despite high levels of skills and training, existing workplace challenges for health workers were negatively impacted by COVID-19. Alongside compensation issues, many local medical workers are overworked. In terms of healthcare capacity, the country averages one nurse to every 5000 patients, but in some rural areas, these figures can go as high as one to 20,000.
The prioritization of staff welfare looks to continue into the foreseeable future, with an average of 28% of the region’s leaders convinced that staff satisfaction and retention will remain a top priority 3 years from now.
Digitalization to drive improved access to healthcare
A vast majority of them also see its positive impact in supporting value-based care (83%) for health systems in APAC, and in reducing the cost of care (82%), higher than the global averages of 67% and 69% respectively. Extending care delivery beyond existing facilities also continues to be priority for close to a quarter (23%) of healthcare leaders in APAC today, and close to one-third (32%) of them 3 years from now.
Reflecting this shift, nearly half of the healthcare leaders in APAC (45%) are currently investing heavily in telehealth. In the Philippines, with the rapid pace of digitalization spurred on by the pandemic, telemedicine saw a significant rise in use. During the onset of lockdowns in 2020, the DOH tallied over 2.3 million minutes of meetings and teleconsultations. These numbers are expected to increase, with patient engagements from last year reaching as high as 100,000 patients monthly. In terms of legislation, House Bill No. 7422 also known as the Philippine E-Health and Telemedicine Development Act of 2020 – has been filed in Congress. The bill seeks to expand and diversify the delivery of health and medical services through information and communications technology especially for people residing in more far-flung areas in the country.
Remote patient monitoring solutions are also regarded as another viable way to extend access to care beyond existing facilities, with healthcare leaders in APAC (19%) saying investing into them is currently a key priority, and 26% saying it will become even more important in the near future.
Since 2016, Philips has conducted original research to help determine the readiness of countries to address global health challenges and build efficient and effective health systems. For details on the Future Health Index methodology and to access the Future Health Index 2022 report in its entirety, go to the Philips site.