Usher Institute, College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
Department of Health Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK.
Lancet Digit Health. 2021 Jun;3(6):e383-e396. doi: 10.1016/S2589-7500(21)00005-4. Epub 2021 May 6.
Health information technology can support the development of national learning health and care systems, which can be defined as health and care systems that continuously use data-enabled infrastructure to support policy and planning, public health, and personalisation of care. The COVID-19 pandemic has offered an opportunity to assess how well equipped the UK is to leverage health information technology and apply the principles of a national learning health and care system in response to a major public health shock. With the experience acquired during the pandemic, each country within the UK should now re-evaluate their digital health and care strategies. After leaving the EU, UK countries now need to decide to what extent they wish to engage with European efforts to promote interoperability between electronic health records. Major priorities for strengthening health information technology in the UK include achieving the optimal balance between top-down and bottom-up implementation, improving usability and interoperability, developing capacity for handling, processing, and analysing data, addressing privacy and security concerns, and encouraging digital inclusivity. Current and future opportunities include integrating electronic health records across health and care providers, investing in health data science research, generating real-world data, developing artificial intelligence and robotics, and facilitating public-private partnerships. Many ethical challenges and unintended consequences of implementation of health information technology exist. To address these, there is a need to develop regulatory frameworks for the development, management, and procurement of artificial intelligence and health information technology systems, create public-private partnerships, and ethically and safely apply artificial intelligence in the National Health Service.
健康信息技术可以支持国家学习型卫生保健系统的发展，这些系统可以被定义为持续利用数据驱动的基础设施来支持政策和规划、公共卫生以及个性化护理的卫生保健系统。COVID-19 大流行提供了一个机会，可以评估英国在利用健康信息技术和应用国家学习型卫生保健系统原则方面的准备情况，以应对重大公共卫生冲击。在大流行期间获得的经验，联合王国的每个国家现在都应该重新评估其数字卫生和保健战略。在离开欧盟后，联合王国的国家现在需要决定在多大程度上希望参与欧洲努力，促进电子健康记录之间的互操作性。加强英国健康信息技术的主要优先事项包括在自上而下和自下而上的实施之间实现最佳平衡，提高可用性和互操作性，发展处理、处理和分析数据的能力，解决隐私和安全问题，并鼓励数字包容性。当前和未来的机会包括整合卫生和保健提供者之间的电子健康记录，投资于健康数据科学研究，生成真实世界的数据，开发人工智能和机器人技术，以及促进公私伙伴关系。健康信息技术的实施存在许多伦理挑战和意外后果。为了解决这些问题，需要为人工智能和健康信息技术系统的开发、管理和采购制定监管框架，创建公私伙伴关系，并在国民保健制度中以合乎道德和安全的方式应用人工智能。
