A Framework for Digital Health Policy: Insights from Virtual Primary Care Systems Across Five Nations

Divya Srivastava*, Robin Van Kessel, Marine Delgrange, Avi Cherla, Harpreet Sood, Elias Mossialos

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Digital health technologies used in primary care, referred to as, virtual primary care, allow patients to interact with primary healthcare professionals remotely though the current iteration of virtual primary care may also come with several unintended consequences, such as accessibility barriers and cream skimming. The World Health Organization (WHO) has a well-established framework to understand the functional components of health systems. However, the existing building blocks framework does not sufficiently account for the disruptive and multi-modal impact of digital transformations. In this review, we aimed to develop the first iteration of this updated framework by reviewing the deployment of virtual primary care systems in five leading countries: Canada, Finland, Germany and Sweden and the United Kingdom (England). We found that all five countries have taken different approaches with the deployment of virtual primary care, yet seven common themes were highlighted across countries: (1) stated policy objectives, (2) regulation and governance, (3) financing and reimbursement, (4) delivery and integration, (5) workforce training and support, (6) IT systems and data sharing, and (7) the extent of patient involvement in the virtual primary care system. The conceptual framework that was derived from these findings offers a set of guiding principles that can facilitate the assessment of virtual primary care in health system settings.
Original languageEnglish
Article numbere0000382
Number of pages13
JournalPLOS Digital Health
Volume2
Issue number11
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 8 Nov 2023

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