Are the Health Information Systems (HIS) ready for the digital transformation? Challenges and future perspectives for HIS in Portugal

Abstract

The relevance of Health Information Systems (HIS) lies in the impact of these systems have on the citizen, on public health, and on sustainability and preparedness in the future, in terms of health. The recent pandemic situation, caused by COVID-19, has highlighted the importance of HIS, particularly in the practice of medicine. However, despite all the technology that enables HIS development, its materialization requires intervention at the strategic, political, technological, and also sociocultural level. This paper aims to reflect on the challenges of HIS, at a time when technologies enable the creation of new approaches and models for care delivery, as well as identify scenarios that may characterize this practice in the future. For this purpose, an empirical study was conducted, based on interviews. The results point to the existence of emerging technologies that can promote the development of HIS focused on to 'health and well-being' following a preventive model approach.