Launched! The Responsible Digital Health Innovation Roadmap

Explore the roadmap
The Roadmap is now available as a PDF and an interactive website, making it accessible to a wide range of stakeholders. By providing a clear and actionable path forward, this initiative is poised to shape the future of digital health in Switzerland and beyond.

• Download Download (PDF, 2.6 MB) (English)
• Download Download (PDF, 2.3 MB) (German)
• Explore the website

Event Recap

Our launch event brought together policymakers, researchers and practitioners. The event began with a welcome from Professor Effy Vayena, a presentation of the Roadmap by Dr. Alessandro Blassime, followed by a panel discussion with experts in the field:

• Dr. Med. Michael Andor (FMH, RZO - Rheumatologie, )
  
• Dr. René Buholzer (Interpharma)
  
• Gian-Reto Grond (Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH))
  
• Eva von Mühlenen (Sidley Austin LLP)
  
• Prof. Dr. med. Barbara Biedermann (COBEDIAS-Institut and Gesundheitsdatenraum Schweiz)

Key takeaways from the panel discussion

From the panel discussion, a range of topics were focused upon that offered valuable insight for the roadmap and its operability and future uptake among community members and stakeholders:

Balancing Innovation and Regulation
Among the key takeaways from the panel discussion was the need to balance adaptive innovation with the need or desire for regulation. The panelists agreed that a balance must be struck between the two as Switzerland's healthcare system works to keep up with technological advancements while remaining flexible for optimized patient and system outcomes.

Interoperability and Standards
Echoing the Roadmap, the panelists noted that there is a need for overarching standards and interoperability for clinician-to-patient, data sharing, and data storage. Moving forward, guiding data sharing and storage standards are needed to ensure efficiency, trust, and safety among stakeholders, especially providers and their patients.

Patient-centricity
Continuing the discussion on data usage and safety, the panel unanimously emphasized the importance of patient-centricity and ensuring that the patients are the leading group to benefit from the health system while empowering them to take hold of their health and healthcare data through advancing technologies.

Implementation and challenges
The panel discussed the challenges of implementing digital health solutions but the importance of seeing regulation as a positive force that can support implementation, and that early stakeholder engagement is key alongside leveraging existing initiatives and regulation. The panel further acknowledged the evolving global data regulatory landscape and the need for Switzerland to consider how it will situate itself within international standards and best practices.

Thank you to all attendees

We would like to thank those who attended and participated in the Q&A session. We hope that the Roadmap and panel insights provide a valuable tool for policy and decision-makers in the Swiss healthcare sphere.