Digital technology has now been used to document various aspects of human health and medicine.
We are witnessing tremendous advancements in the nature and quality of health services; some severe illnesses have been eliminated, and life expectancy has been prolonged to a point where it is possible to forecast that “one could live hundred years.”
eHealth vs Digital
The difference between eHealth and Digital is that eHealth has a goal of providing quality life by uplifting the healthcare system which is not limited to the usage of some Smartphone applications, whereas Digital health has a goal of reaching as many people as possible who need help via the digital channel. Digital health uses tools such as telemedicine, ‘smart homes, and Smartphone applications.
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eHealth is a growing field at the crossroads of medical informatics, public health, and business; which refers to information supplied and health services or enhanced via the Internet and similar technologies.
In a larger sense, the phrase describes not just a technological advancement, but also a state of mind or a style of thinking or an attitude and a commitment to utilizing information and communication technology to enhance health care locally, regionally, and globally.
Digital health is a broad concept that includes e-health, m-Health, and telehealth, and incorporates everything from electronic patient records to remote monitoring, connected equipment, and digital therapies, among other things.
It entails utilizing technology, big data, and AI to collect, exchange, analyze, and apply data on patient results to assist healthcare practitioners in making informed decisions and improving care.
Comparison Table
| Parameters of Comparison | eHealth | Digital |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Comprises a vast portion of medical information and focuses on the use of ICT in the development of health | Usage of revolution in the art and medicine science to reach masses for healthcare. |
| Goal | Improve the health system’s accessibility and quality of care | Use technology to provide healthcare to the masses. |
| Accessibility | Less accessible as it’s not a wide term | More accessible as it’s a broad term including eHealth, mHealth, etc. |
| Tools | Systems, products, and services. | Technology that provides services to consumers and patients |
| Examples | Electronic health records, health portals, telemedicine services, and health information networks. | Applications, electronic medical records, telemedicine, and connected medicine. |
What is eHealth?
eHealth is a relatively new healthcare practice that relies on using information and communication technology. Because it is such a broad phrase that covers so much ground, eHealth can’t be represented by a standard word.
eHealth is being used to give high-quality care to an increasing number of people at a low cost and with efficiency and quality.
The foundations to success are hence integrated IT solutions for enhancing administrative and clinical operations. Until recently, eHealth evaluations were limited in their ability to address economic and budgetary issues.
Healthcare has been greatly influenced by global trends. One of the key goals of eHealth is to apply information technologies and communication technologies to health.
Moreover, the purpose of eHealth is to empower patients and help them attain better health.
E-Health promises that it will improve healthcare efficiency, lowering expenses.
Decreasing duplicative or un-required diagnostic or therapeutic interventions, as well as improved communication between patients and healthcare institutions, all are feasible ways to cut expenses.
Improving the quality of healthcare by increasing efficiency along with that not lowering costs but also raising quality. By facilitating comparisons of different caregivers, patients are like authority which assures the quality.
Making sure that patients are being directed to the best quality providers, e-health improves the quality of health care.
What is Digital?
The term “digital health” refers to a wide range of innovations that help and solve healthcare problems. Advancement in medicine’s art and science to the pervasiveness of communication and information technology (ICTs).
Digital technology has now been used to document various aspects of human health & medicine.
Through data access, digital tools are providing clinicians with a more holistic perspective of patient health and allowing people greater control over their health. Digital health has the potential to improve medical outcomes while also increasing efficiency.
Emerging technologies have the potential to empower consumers to make better health decisions and provide new options for aiding prevention, early identification of life-threatening diseases, and chronic condition management outside of traditional health care settings.
Digital health technologies are being used by providers and other stakeholders to reduce inefficiencies, improve access, reduce costs, improve quality, and make medicine more individualized for patients.
Furthermore, the health industry faces numerous issues today and accounts for a considerable amount of GDP in many countries economies.
As a result, a need for radical technologies is evident, and ‘digital healthcare’ is a primary possibility for driving that innovation. Its focus is on ways to better engage people with modern technologies.
Applications, telemedicine, electronic health record, “connected medicine,” and “smart homes” are examples of such technologies.
Main Differences Between eHealth and Digital
- eHealth is a form of healthcare practice that relies on using information and communication technologies whereas Digital health is an advancement of medicine’s art and science in response to omnipresent technologies.
- The purpose of eHealth is to make the health system’s accessibility better and quality of care whereas digital health has a goal to use technology to provide and scale healthcare to as many people as possible.
- eHealth uses technology that uses products and systems that could go beyond the usage of internet applications whereas Digital health tools are a technology that provides services to consumers and patients while also assisting them in managing their health and wellness.
- Electronic medical records, information of health networks, telemedicine services, and many health portals are all instances of eHealth whereas telemedicine, Applications, smart homes, electronic medical records, and connected medicine are all examples of digital health technology.
- eHealth is less accessible as although it’s reaching as many people as it can whereas the digital health is a wide term that includes eHealth and eHealth making it reachable to people.
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0167527318369973
- https://www.jmir.org/2018/5/e178
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Sandeep Bhandari holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Computers from Thapar University (2006). He has 20 years of experience in the technology field. He has a keen interest in various technical fields, including database systems, computer networks, and programming. You can read more about him on his bio page.
