The power of rapidly-advancing technology promises to facilitate a boom in home-testing kits, remote diagnosis and a patient-empowering shake-up of how medical information is used. However, this could mean reducing the need for hospital visits and, in some cases, downgrade the role of health professionals.
Tremblay, a leading consultant on the role of eHealth in healthcare systems, says eHealth could face resistance from doctors and apathy from the public unless it offers clear user-friendly clinical benefits. There is a danger, he says, that the technology could run ahead of public opinion.
"eHealth can remove steps in clinical pathways, as well as make some clinical work itself obsolete. This is not something that sits easily within professionally demarcated clinical work," he says.
With medical inflation often running into double digits in recent years, governments are looking to technology as a means of tackling two major drivers of cost: labour and investment in buildings and infrastructure.
According to Tremblay, doctors are divided on how to react to such a shift. "In the end, consumer-empowered eHealth could lead to the average person determining the structure and shape of healthcare services. There may be reasons why some people would fear that," he says.
Nonetheless, Tremblay believes health professionals will use technologies if they see clinical benefits. "My view is that clinicians might actually adopt innovations faster if the technologies were easier to use."
Hospital CEOs also need to be brought on board if technology's potential is to be tapped. Tremblay says healthcare managers' instinct is to protect their organisation and ensure its growth.
Like health workers, senior administrators must be convinced of the benefits of ehealth if they are to face up to the change it will bring.
"I don't think either [doctors or managers] are fully prepared to have a discussion on the potential disruptive impact of eHealth unless it improves clinical care, and maintains their professional role."
A third key group to be won over is the public, which Tremblay says has a "weak understanding of eHealth". He compares eHealth to the challenges of making electric cars an everyday reality.
"Everyone seems to agree they are a good idea […] but the adoption of the technology and the realisation of the benefits actually depend on something rather more mundane – how do you keep the car charged up? eHealth is a bit like this."
Dr. Michael Tremblay was speaking to Gary Finnegan.
