First and foremost, a paradigm shift is required, with more data-driven decision-making focused on automating simple processes, such as redesigning the traditional patient service pathway, introducing digital processes where possible. But the hospital of the future also requires cultural change. Resistance is a natural part of innovation. That's why cultural transformation in digitization is a milestone that every healthcare provider, healthcare system employee and patient will have to go through over time. Health care of the future will be care without a postal address - medical and care services will be provided everywhere at home, at work, at school, at the clinic. Long-term care, rehabilitation, post-operative care will soon be primarily hybrid and largely delivered outside the hospital. Home for convalescence is better than the best hospital.
Who will pay for it?
Willingly or unwillingly, the health insurance system faces inevitable reform, because in its current form it will succumb to the pressure of inefficient processes and rising costs. This is inevitable if we want to take patients seriously and build medicine centered around their needs. In the not-too-distant future, much of the hospitalization will not be done in the hospital, unless the patient requires surgery or a medical procedure. Care will be virtual, delivered directly in the patient's home or daily living environment.
First virtual hospital
The idea for the hospital arose after the COVID-19 pandemic out of a need to increase access to services in rural areas. Limited access to specialized medical services outside of cities led to disparities in access to health care over time. An additional consideration was the reduction in in-person interactions during the pandemic, which led to the acceleration of national telemedicine programs. The rapid expansion of telemedicine has provided the basis for new virtual care models, including one offered by a virtual hospital in Saudi Arabia.
The virtual hospital is the most ambitious virtual care project being implemented recently in Saudi Arabia. Coming to a virtual hospital is de facto logging in. The visit will be very different from how it is done today.
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