The event was held on July 11 and had as its theme "Interoperability and the Agenda for Digital Transformation in Health in Bogotá and Colombia."
The face-to-face event was organized by the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Social Protection (Minsalud) and the Bogotá Chamber of Commerce. The event addressed the progress of the Digital Health Agenda of Colombia and its extension throughout the territory.
Likewise, the event included topics such as health care through telemedicine, electronic medical records, Artificial Intelligence in health, personalization of diagnoses and treatments, and remote care.
The event was attended by Fernando Ruiz Gómez, head of the Ministry of Health, who presented Colombia's most recent achievements in Digital Health, as well as the pending challenges. “Our system has an important limitation, it is fragmented and there is no talk between the institutions, the organizations; for that reason, the most important challenge is digital transformation”, he explained.
In this way, the minister recognized that the first step is to recognize Digital Health as the field of knowledge that will develop the use of technology to improve the health system.
He also recognized the progress made in the field during the pandemic, especially in telehealth and genomics. Telehealth in Colombia grew exponentially in this period, while before the pandemic the health services provided one million visits per month, during the health emergency there were months with up to 10 million monthly visits.
Regarding genomics, he explained that two years and four months after the start of the pandemic, Colombia has a network of 22 genomics laboratories where traceability tasks of the COVID-19 variants are carried out.
The progress of Digital Health and interoperability in Colombia is also related to regulatory advances, such as Law 1955, Law 2015 and Resolution 866, which have promoted and regulated the use of telemedicine in the country. In this way, thanks to these regulations, telemedicine reaches 370 municipalities in Colombia.
Another of the strategies that are part of the Digital Health Agenda is the roadmap that details the importance of health data analytical units, and the strengthening of digital health portals and platforms. "We are going to leave a technological platform for piloting, technical guides, preparation process of the territorial entities, Cundinamarca interoperability test, the Colombian cloud", explained the minister.
These strategies seek to make interoperability a reality in Colombia, and to connect more than 10,000 public and private health institutions. In fact, on July 19, the first “connectatón” will be held, with the participation of five territorial entities and 100 institutions that provide health services (IPS).
