Digitalization of the healthcare system in Russia: upcoming trends and risks

Abstract

Digital technologies are currently entering a human life and changing it drastically. Education, economy and healthcare go hand in hand with digitalization. The author of the article stresses that digital technologies spawn fear and mistrust in many people. This applies especially to digitalization of the healthcare system. To overcome the mixed feelings arising in people, we need to understand what digitalization is and review its perspectives and threats. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to consider perspective trends of digitalization of the Russian healthcare system and reveal the existing risks. The author of the article analyzes the normative legal base devoted to the development of healthcare system in Russia, examines the available articles of scientists on the subject, and analyzes the interviews undertaken by IT company representatives, which assess the use of digital technologies in medicine. Based on the performed analysis, the author underlines the following upcoming trends in healthcare digitalization: rapid data generation and processing, remote medical aid, remote enrollment in a medical institution, and easy access to an electronic medical record. The author mentions the following risks: a set of personal data, which could be stolen from digital media, mistakes existing when telehealth technologies are used, and impossibility to get access to a high-speed Internet connection in some Russian regions. According to the author, coordinated work of all actors of healthcare digitalization will allow to keep to a minimum or completely avoid the mentioned risks.