Overview
Ten ways to accelerate the benefits of digital health in Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia is one of the leading countries in its adoption of digitized government services. The management consultancy McKinsey, in collaboration with the Center for Improving Value in Health, explored the scope to further improve healthcare through digital health in the paper Ten Ways to Accelerate the Benefits of Digital Health in Saudi Arabia. The authors’ analysis indicates opportunities to unlock $15-$27bn economic benefits through digital healthcare solutions by 2030. This correlates to 10 to 15 percent of Saudi Arabia’s total projected health expenditure for 2030; funding that could then become available for reinvestment in other priority healthcare and governmental initiatives.
Five sources of economic benefit through digital adoption were analyzed in this report: virtual interactions (such as remote monitoring and virtual consultations); self-care and self-service; decision intelligence systems; workflow automation; and paperless data. Achieving the identified benefits will require action from a range of stakeholders. Technology companies will need to prove the impact of their offerings through outcomes research, and improve the user experience of their solutions. Healthcare providers should be encouraged to incentivize uptake of digital solutions by healthcare professionals, support staff training for greater digital literacy, and better engage professionals in the selection and deployment of new platforms and tools. Payers should review their reimbursement programs to ensure digital adoption is incentivized and encourage their beneficiaries towards healthier choices through new digital services. Finally, and critically, policymakers should, within the context of their national digital healthcare strategy, architecture and standards, ensure that digital healthcare adoption targets are effectively communicated and aligned.
From a strong baseline of digital health, the Saudi health system now has opportunities to take advantage of these various levers to accelerate digital adoption to deliver better value care for patients. The Center would emphasize that balancing the need for engagement, trust and transparency in implementation, and committing to thorough, independent evaluation of the outcomes achieved, are both vital steps to ensure the success of ongoing and new digital initiatives in all health systems.
