{MP Test LMU-MY} Challenges to digital health adoption in Southeast Asia

Digital health offers many benefits to healthcare organizations and patients, but Southeast Asian (SEA) region’s social and economic demographic characteristics pose unique challenges to the adoption of digital health, says an expert.

According to Dr Zubin J Daruwalla, health industries leader, PricewaterhouseCooper’s (PwC) South East Asia Consulting, Singapore, healthcare organizations stand to benefit greatly from a developed digital health market as it is patient-centric, improves patient empowerment and experience, and client engagement; leads to a reduction in human error—thus improving patient safety; optimizes operations; and improves cost efficiency.

While it seems like a no-brainer to adopt digital health as soon as possible, adoption is slow in the healthcare industry as it is a complex situation, especially in the region. The varying and often volatile demographics of emerging markets such as SEA differ from developed economies as market segment and consumer preferences change rapidly. Zubin said: “The four key differentiating factors are population growth, ageing and distribution, and the income rise of the middle class.”

In terms of population growth, SEA poses a significant challenge to the adoption of digital health as infrastructure is not being developed at the same rate across the region, resulting in a strain on resources. Similarly, the portion of the population aged over 65 is increasing exponentially in the region and poses another challenge to business models that are not tailored to the elderly. The percentage of rural populations across SEA, and Asia more broadly, make accessibility a challenge for businesses especially to those whose models are tailored for developed markets. Finally, the increasing proportion of middle class with a greater willingness to spend (on healthcare) results in higher expectations of healthcare and also a greater incidence of non-communicable diseases—thus necessitating a shift of many existing solutions to more holistic ones.

Zubin said harnessing the power of digital technology will be key to helping SEA’s health industry bridge the gap and provide access to affordable care, as well as catalyze the proliferation of quality care delivery in the region. However, the high upfront and maintenance costs of digital transformation often result in organizations and governments questioning the return of investment spent on digital health. To this, Zubin said: “Today, it isn’t so much return on investment but rather a return on experience. Byproduct of improved patient experience is improved profits anyway, so you will get your money back.”

Zubin covered many other aspects of digital health and the challenges faced by governments and organizations in the SEA region, and reminded doctors and stakeholders to keep patients at the heart of every decision and use technology to complement clinical practices, not to replace them. The key word here is collaboration and buy-in from all stakeholders, without which it is unlikely the people will experience the full benefits of a developed digital health market.