INTRODUCTION Contributed by: Sarah-Jane Dobson and Katrin Ruhl, Ashurst
Ashurst LLP Ashurst LLP London Fruit & Wool Exchange 1 Duval Square
London E1 6PW UK Tel: +44 207 859 1519 Email: sarah-jane.dobson@ashurst.com Web: www.ashurst.com/en/people/sarah-jane- dobson/
Context: Digital Healthcare Usage Digital healthcare encompasses a wide array of technologies and applications designed to improve healthcare services, facilitate the inte- gration and exchange of health information, enhance treatment, promote health and prevent the development of diseases. Currently, the main categories of digital healthcare are: • telehealth and telemedicine; • health information technology; • digital/personalised medicine; and • preventative and wellness technologies. Telehealth and telemedicine This involves remote patient monitoring, mobile health applications such as apps that control insulin pumps, and wearable devices such as smartwatches. These tools aim to improve healthcare services by enabling remote consul- tations, real-time data collection, and AI-driven diagnostics to improve diagnosis, treatment and monitoring of patients. Health information technology This includes electronic patient records, and facilitates the integration and exchange of health
information, ensuring that healthcare providers have access to complete sets of data from eve- rywhere, particularly in urgent situations. Digital and personalised medicine This is powered by AI, and offers health recom- mendations and treatments tailored to individual patients, improving treatment outcomes. Preventative and wellness technologies (lifestyle tools) This includes apps promoting health-sustaining behaviours, focusing on promoting health and preventing diseases. These various forms of digital healthcare dif- fer in their operators, purposes and classifica- tions within legal and regulatory frameworks. For instance, telehealth, telemedicine and per- sonalised medicine generally focus on diagno- sis, treatment and monitoring, health informa- tion technology tools enable smooth operation and interconnection, and lifestyle tools aim to promote general well-being. Furthermore, dif- ferent tools and applications fall under differ- ent categories depending on their intended use (eg, lifestyle versus medical app), which might
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