Accepted for/Published in: Journal of Medical Internet Research
Date Submitted: Nov 11, 2024
Date Accepted: Mar 18, 2025
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
A System Model and Requirements for Transformation to Human-Centric Digital Health
ABSTRACT
Background:
Digital transformation is rapidly advancing all sector in society including healthcare and health. It is widely understood as an evitable process where technology is used to modify organisation’s products and services and for creation new ones. Researchers have shown that the direction of digital transformation is determined by human decisions based on ideologies, ideas, beliefs and goals. A possible future is that transformation to Digital Health use in business world dominating ideas and goals digital economy and neoliberalism (e.g. privatisation and healthcare services, monetarization and commodification of health data and personal responsibility of health).
Objective:
The objective is to develop new principles and a system model for transformation towards Digital Health where the person is a stakeholder and that enables to get benefits of Digital Health without weakening of human rights, privacy, dignity and autonomy.
Methods:
In this study, detailed literature review covering 560 research articles published in major journals were performed followed by analysis of ideas beliefs and goals guiding transformation to Digital Health. and possible consequences to privacy, human rights, dignity and autonomy. System thinking and system modelling are used to develop a new system model and principles for Digital Health.
Results:
Literature analyses showed that transformation to Digital Health using ideas and goals of market economy and neoliberalism cause meaningful risks to human rights, dignity and autonomy. To avoid this, an alternative solution called human-centric digital health (HCDH) that aligns with human rights and values, supports dignity, privacy and autonomy is developed. Furthermore, ideas, principles and goals for HCDH, such as extensions to Human Rights and the principle of restricted informational ownership of health data. New duties for private organisations are proposed together with new laws that support the HCDH model
Conclusions:
Digital Health should benefit people and patients, and prevent the loose of human rights, privacy, dignity and autonomy. To make this true, widely accepted principles and standards and regulations are needed such as proposed in this paper.
Citation
