Besides being able to make this distinction, healthcare leaders today face at least four major challenges.

1) They have to implement new technologies properly as healthcare must be as efficient and cost-effective as possible to care for patients and there is not much time to do that as patients reach out to technological solutions if they exist without the help of a third party which is simply unprecedented.

2) They also have to comply with a myriad of regulations and as healthcare becomes a global system, complying with all the rules will be even more complex in the near future. The era of digital health brings in the era of losing privacy as the more data healthcare uses to provide me with the best possible care, the higher my risk becomes for losing parts of my privacy.

3) Leaders must deal with a new stakeholder in healthcare: the proactive patient. The e-patient who has new needs, manages their own data and bring that along with many targeted questions to the doctor-patient visit. This poses
a new level of security threats to every healthcare organization. It’s not enough anymore to build strong and
safe health IT systems in healthcare facilities when patients become the facility themselves.

4) Advanced technologies become available so fast that it’s practically impossible to have a clear understand of all the trends and directions. The guide that can help make sense of all the changes lies in the fundamental basics of practicing medicine: using technologies that allow patients and medical professionals to spend quality time together with attention and empathy.