Digital health: how Switzerland manages the balancing act between opportunities and risks
A new roadmap shows how digital healthcare solutions can be developed ethically and effectively in Switzerland - with clear principles and concrete actions.
Medicine is facing a digital revolution. The rapid development of digital health technologies opens up significant opportunities and at the same time poses complex challenges and risks. To ensure that the entire Swiss population benefits from the digitalisation of medicine, the Health Ethics & Policy Lab at ETH Zurich has developed a roadmap. This roadmap provides a framework for responsible innovation and, with governance principles and concrete measures, points the way to the ethical and effective implementation of digital healthcare solutions in Switzerland.
Professor Effy Vayena and senior scientist Dr Alessandro Blasimme, who developed this roadmap as part of NRP 77, presented their work at a launch event in early December 2024.
The roadmap is aimed primarily at decision-makers and policymakers in the health system to support them in promoting responsible, digital health innovations. The following governance principles should be adhered to (source: Roadmap):
Agile Regulation
Policymakers and decision-makers can enable agile regulation through the creation of a Digital Health Centre of Competence and by building the necessary legal basis for agile regulation.
Inclusive Co-Creation
Regulators, policymakers, and decision-makes should foster inclusive co-creation by engaging diverse stakeholders early on and providing guidance and standards to promote interoperability.
Value-driven Innovation
Decision-makers across the innovation ecosystem should support the adoption of value-driven innovation by monitoring the clinical use of innovations and prioritising innovations with social impact.
Capacity Building
Policymakers and decision-makers should drive capacity by promoting ethical awareness amongst all stakeholders and fostering regulatory knowledge and skills.
The specific measures with which these principles can be implemented can be found on the corresponding roadmap website:
The background and significance of the project supported by the National Research Programme can be found here on the NRP 77 project website.
And here you will find an overview of other NRP 77 research projects related to digital transformation.