The Health2030 National Conference brings together key players to discuss the greatest challenges facing the healthcare sector. The latest conference, held on 20 February 2024, focused on the digitalisation of healthcare.
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Digitally networked, humanly connected
The «Digitally networked, humanly connected» event, held on 20 February 2024, was opened by Federal Councillor Elisabeth Baume-Schneider. In her address to the attendees – around 320 key healthcare players – she emphasised the importance of a strong and affordable primary care system, and of close cooperation between all the partners involved.
From her perspective, the top priority was digital transformation – the theme of this year’s conference – which should help to strengthen the health system. While substantial investments in digitalisation had already been made in Switzerland, they were not sufficiently coordinated. To facilitate digital access to vital health information, there was a need for improved networking of the various systems.
Opening address by Federal Councillor Elisabeth Baume-Schneider
What are the priorities for health policy from the viewpoint of Elisabeth Baume-Schneider, Head of the Federal Department of Home Affairs since 1 January 2024? Her opening address to the National Conference on Health2030 is available on the website of the Federal Department of Home Affairs (in German/French/Italian).
DigiSanté Programme
At the conference, experts from the federal authorities presented the programme designed to promote the digital transformation of healthcare (DigiSanté - available in German, French and Italian) and discussed specific projects with representatives of the cantons and academia, as well as numerous other healthcare players.
Explainer video DigiSanté (available in German, French, Italian)
A video explaining the DigiSanté programme is available online:
Recordings of addresses and presentations
For the benefit of anyone who was unable to attend the Conference or would like to listen to one of the contributions again, all the addresses and presentations were recorded (in the original language, with simultaneous translation into French, German or Italian).
They are available here:
Input presentations
These presentations are available in German and French.
Adrien Bron, Director General, Geneva Cantonal Health Office (OCS)
«eHealth – what is the cantons’ role?» – Case study: Intercantonal Agreement on Digitalisation of Healthcare (CARA)
Dimitra Panteli, Lead on Innovation, European Observatory on Health Systems and Policies
«European developments in digitalisation – What should we expect?»
Felix Gille, Project Leader, Digital Society Initiative, University of Zurich
«Public trust in the sharing of health data»
Topic-based workshops
As the various players’ expertise and involvement will be crucial to the development of tomorrow’s digitalised healthcare, attendees were invited to contribute their knowledge and views.
There were five topic-based workshops:
1. The EPR: useful, usable and used
2. DigiSanté: the programme promoting the healthcare system’s digital transformation
3. The ‘personalised health network’: a model for sustainable and interoperable collaborations in the Swiss health data world
4. An overview of the existing medical registers and a first step towards harmonising them
5. Staff rostering in the care sector: new approaches and digital support
Conducted by eHealth Suisse
The adoption of the electronic patient record (EPR) is a complex undertaking that is faced not only with inadequate information on such records’ availability but also with reservations and concerns about their use and their benefits. The EPR also requires several further developments within the healthcare sector: of IT systems’ interoperability, of systematic interprofessional collaborations and of patients themselves taking on a more active role. This workshop asks: how can I help to ensure in my own capacity that the EPR is efficiently adopted?
Co-conducted by the FOPH and the FSO
The DigiSanté programme, which has been commissioned by the Swiss Federal Council, is presently being established by the FOPH and the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) in an initial phase that should be completed by the end of 2024, and will then be conducted over the following ten years. The programme’s 50-odd projects have been bundled into four groups, and should gradually be embarked on and pursued. In this workshop we’ll take an in-depth look at various programme issues. We’ll also seek to determine where DigiSanté and its projects may overlap with those of our attendees, and also where our guests’ priorities lie in digitalisation terms.
Conducted by the Swiss Personalized Health Network (SPHN)
The Swiss Personalized Health Network (SPHN) initiative has established various infrastructural elements for the research field that should provide a firm foundation for efficient and responsible data exchanges for the secondary use of health-related data. After a brief introduction to the SPHN initiative, participants in this workshop will discuss how the experiences that have been acquired in establishing the SPHN could be utilised more widely on a national scale.
Conducted by the expert group on data management
Switzerland is home to a large number of medical registers which are structured in various ways. The aim of this workshop is to lay the foundations for their harmonisation. A first step has already been taken here with the creation of a survey which should help provide an overview of what registers currently exist in Switzerland and how these are set up. The workshop will present the survey’s preliminary results and discuss these with attendees.
Conducted by Swiss Nurse Leaders
Smart and innovative digital applications can help substantially facilitate work and duty rostering within the care sector. The participants in this workshop will share their experiences and their expertise. The workshop will focus on concrete examples in which shift and duty rostering that is tailored to staff members’ needs enhances their job satisfaction and thus also the likelihood that they will remain in the healthcare sector.
Info booths
Inspiring digitalisation projects were presented by various actors at info booths, attracting keen interest.
There were five info booths:
1. DigiSanté Programme
2. I14Y interoperability platform and SpiGes: once-only hospital data collection
3. Medical Informatics AI tools: The bridge between increased efficiency and greater patient engagement
4. Talking Pictures app
5. NaviSanté
Presented by: Federal Office of Public Health and Federal Statistical Office
In collaboration with healthcare actors, DigiSanté is promoting sustainable implementation of the Swiss Health Data Space. DigiSanté establishes standardised digital health-related services at the federal level, enabling efficient day-to-day operations.
Presented by: Federal Statistical Office
The Federal Statistical Office (FSO) is simplifying hospital data collection. According to the once-only principle, participants work together on a shared platform and collect the data only once. They exchange their metadata using the I14Y interoperability platform. A live demo of the I14Y platform was shown at the stand using the SpiGes user journey as an example.
Presented by: Bern University of Applied Sciences
Three projects were presented by students:
- Robot-aided care documentation
The combination of simple robots and artificial intelligence opens up new possibilities for applications in care homes and elsewhere. In this student project, a prototype is being used to implement automated documentation of care visits, thus relieving the burden on care staff.
- Ambient speech recognition in emergency medicine
Documentation is of great importance in medicine. This project is evaluating how patient contacts can be transcribed using speech recognition, with structured extraction of relevant information. The goal is to generate treatment documentation automatically.
- AI-based decision support in telemedicine
An important first step in the context of telemedical care is, if necessary, the identification of an institution to provide further care. In this project, a solution based on automatic speech recognition and artificial intelligence was developed to support this operation during the remote consultation.
In cooperation with the Swiss Center for Design and Health
Language barriers can impede equal access to high-quality healthcare. Talking Pictures is developing a picture-based digital communication tool to help patients and health professionals overcome such barriers.
Presented by: Unisanté and the Pays-D’Enhaut Health Centre (PSPE)
NaviSanté is a platform enabling users to navigate through Canton Vaud’s social and health services system. Users can enter health-related questions in their own language, thanks to a generative AI (ChatGPT-type) system, which is being trained on data from official sources, such as the websites of Canton Vaud, Unisanté and the Canton Vaud Migrant Reception Establishment (EVAM).
Answers tailored to individual users’ questions are automatically formulated in their own language. Users can thus access information in their preferred language without having to navigate the relevant websites.
Imagery of the Health2030 conference of February 20, 2024
Documents
Adrien Bron: «eHealth – what is the cantons’ role?» – Case study: Intercantonal Agreement on Digitalisation of Healthcare (CARA)
Dimitra Panteli: «European developments in digitalisation – What should we expect?»
Felix Gille: «Public trust in the sharing of health data»
Last modification 08.03.2024
Contact
Federal Office of Public Health FOPH
Communication and Campaigns Division
Health2030
Schwarzenburgstrasse 157
3003
Bern
Switzerland
Tel.
+41 58 464 82 30