20/08/2024

Digital transformation in healthcare: the future of rehabilitation

Digital transformation Healthcare & Lifesciences Blog article

Author: Daria Kolesova & Jacqueline Payer

Rehabilitation is a crucial part of healthcare. It makes all the difference in helping people who have been ill or injured re-establish themselves in everyday life. Yet rehabilitation providers are under pressure due to a growing shortage of skilled specialists and an ageing society. What can we do to safeguard public health in Germany despite these challenges? The answer may lie in digital transformation, which has the potential to make it easier for patients to access rehab services throughout their path to resuming normal life.

Digitalisation is revolutionising the healthcare system in almost all areas, and rehabilitation is no exception. At a time when a shortage of skilled labour and an ageing society are presenting the healthcare system with immense challenges, it is becoming increasingly important to find innovative solutions that ensure sustainable care. Digital technologies offer a promising answer here: they not only enable more efficient processes and a higher quality of care, but also open up new ways to facilitate access to rehabilitation services and improve care throughout the entire healing process. From telemedicine to wearables and digital patient records – the future of rehabilitation is digital, and it offers opportunities that go far beyond what is currently possible.

1. The Human Factor: Focus must be on people

Doctors, therapists, nursing and care staff all play a vital role, and none of them can be replaced by digital solutions. Yet given the challenges facing healthcare as mentioned above, there is a pressing need to support and supplement the skills and services provided by these people – and that’s where digital solutions come in. Various digital options are already available, such as wearables, sensors and robotic devices, which offer the potential to ease the strain on healthcare staff. Other ways of making healthcare more efficient while simultaneously enhancing quality include telemedicine services, electronic patient files and digital communication channels.

2. User experience as a success factor in rehabilitation

What happens when rehabilitation is over and patients are suddenly left to their own devices? This can create a significant gap in care, which may leave some patients struggling to manage day-to-day life on their own. In the worst-case scenario, having to cope without sufficient follow-up care may cause their health to deteriorate again and all the progress achieved during their rehabilitation to be undone. Digital solutions can help to ease the transition back into everyday life, making the effects of the rehabilitation process last longer. Therapists can use telemedicine to continue to support their patients remotely, while apps with tailored exercise sessions can help boost their recovery. However, for these tools to be effective, they must be adapted to the needs of each individual user: an optimised user experience and design are crucial to getting digital solutions established.

3. Making rehabilitation more accessible

Digital solutions that are available anywhere and at any time are an attractive option for patients who have difficulty accessing care due to time constraints or a lack of facilities close to where they live. The reality is that on-site care is simply not feasible for people in a variety of situations in life. Telemedicine services give working people the chance to obtain the support they need around their working hours, or parents to do so once their children have gone to bed. Equally, the extra flexibility these digital solutions offer benefits for therapists too – something healthcare providers can use to give them a real competitive advantage in recruiting and retaining skilled staff.

4. Pooling strengths through cooperation

As the healthcare system evolves, it is becoming apparent that doctors no longer bear sole responsibility for medical care. In future, they will be part of a broader team of service providers working together to look after patients. To develop genuinely effective digital solutions, all institutions involved in rehabilitation need to pull together, pooling their strengths to lay the foundations for keeping the population at large as healthy as possible. Up to now, however, a lack of communication and mutual engagement between sectors has made this difficult. Seamless cooperation and communication are needed to build a shared understanding and encourage more collaboration. This will help make the digital transformation more efficient and effective.

5. Public institutions – pioneers of innovation?

Who will make the first move? Will large public institutions such as Deutsche Rentenversicherung (German Pension Insurance) be the ones to provide the necessary impetus and keep it going? In Germany, the public sector plays a key role in healthcare. It is heavily involved in organising, financing and regulating the healthcare system, and health insurance, prevention schemes and other health services all receive funding from tax revenue. In addition, public hospitals and healthcare facilities are run by state or municipal bodies. As a fundamental pillar of the national healthcare system, these institutions ensure that medical services are accessible to everyone.

6. Putting processes to the test

So can we just digitalise everything and be done with it? Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. Problems already plaguing analogue processes won’t be solved through digital transformation alone. In reality, all the interconnected analogue and digital processes involved throughout the patient journey need to be reconfigured and upgraded. Even rehabilitation institutions with no shortage of skilled staff often face problems when it comes to allocating them: the right people are not always sent to the right places. One advantage of digitally supported solutions is that they provide relevant data automatically. This helps to streamline processes and make sure that staff are deployed where they are needed.

Healthcare Experience Meetup at IBM iX

These opportunities and challenges in the digitalisation of rehabilitation were discussed at a panel discussion at the Healthcare Experience Meetup at IBM iX in June 2024. Experts from various areas of the healthcare sector shared their insights and perspectives. Among them: Katharina Perl (DEGEMED), Dr Filippo Martino (Caspar Health), Dr Nils Banthien (Vivantes), Prof Dr Nils Lahmann (Charité) and Prof Martin Kreis (Charité).

Better networking is crucial for ensuring successful digital transformation of healthcare, which is why IBM iX has been holding its Healthcare Experience Meetups for two years now. This event series encourages interaction between key players from different areas of the healthcare sector. Sign up now to make sure you don’t miss the next event!