First International Internet Healthcare Conference: Insights on Internet Medical Innovation and Precision Medicine
The rapid advancement of technology has imposed demands for personalization, systematization, informatization, digitalization, and specialization in healthcare, compelling medical information to transition from the previous extensive model to an open, intelligent healthcare system. This transformation is bound to trigger an explosion of medical data. The application of big data is a crucial component of precision medicine, which, as a novel approach to disease prevention and treatment, also exerts a significant influence on the development of medical equipment.
Currently, many hospitals in China have begun implementing information technology upgrades. The aim of these transformations is to help patients resolve their medical needs more efficiently and provide better services, including medical care and health education. Many hospitals now enable the sharing and interoperability of online patient data—such as appointment scheduling, consultations, and triage—significantly reducing the time required for medical visits.
Hospitals have leveraged these big data resources to establish clinical data systems and operational management frameworks, playing a significant role in improving healthcare quality, enhancing managerial efficiency, and reducing costs. Meanwhile, 21st-century medicine has put forward the slogan of “shifting goals upward, shifting focus upward, and moving thresholds forward,” which places higher demands on hospitals and poses greater challenges to hospital administrators.
Informatization is a prerequisite for achieving smart healthcare. By leveraging Internet of Things (IoT) and “Internet Plus” technologies to establish health record medical information platforms, interactions can be facilitated among patients, healthcare professionals, hospitals, and medical devices.
In its early stages, mobile health focused solely on data collection via apps and sensors, which no longer adequately meets current demands. Mobile health is now evolving into an era of connected health. It is no longer sufficient to merely pursue technological advancements; instead, technology must be leveraged to address real-world problems and build a completely new ecosystem.
Precision medicine, as a novel approach to disease prevention and treatment, leverages information technology, molecular biology, and other advanced techniques to deliver more targeted therapies for patients. Some scholars argue that precision medicine integrates the 4P and TIDEST models, with the 4P framework encompassing prediction, prevention, personalization, and participation.
The application of big data is a crucial component of precision medicine, encompassing technologies such as information technology and mobile health. These applications enable more sophisticated and accurate discussions on medical issues. Consequently, compared with traditional medicine, precision medicine facilitates a transition from experience-based medicine to evidence-based practice.
In the application of technological equipment for precision medicine, accuracy is the primary consideration. First, regarding disease diagnosis and treatment, it remains to be seen whether the platform is mature at the molecular level; while many experts have hyped this concept, it has simultaneously driven the emergence of new technologies in the market. Second, clinical laboratory testing and calibration also extensively utilize molecular biology techniques. Furthermore, clinical imaging diagnostics are rapidly advancing, with technologies such as CT and MRI ushering radiology into a completely new era.
Achieving the overall precision medicine pathway from diagnosis to treatment is inextricably linked to technological equipment. For instance, telepathology is not merely a matter of data transmission; it requires clinical case analysis based on virtual slides and efficient expert systems. Meanwhile, the rapid translation of novel molecular pathology technologies is also a critical component. Furthermore, unified quality control (QC) standards are equally important.
Three Characteristics of Precision Medicine:
Information exchange in medical equipment raises a question: in the face of numerous information sources and big data, the value of data is difficult to realize without effective analysis. Currently, we remain at the level of information management and have not yet reached the level of information analysis, lacking integration in this area. Therefore, the key issue lies in how to integrate information management with clinical data.
How to Promote the Development of Precision Medicine Through the Internet and New Information Technologies: Specific Objectives Include Several Categories:
How to Better Coordinate Healthcare: Patient care often involves multidisciplinary coordination, which can be enhanced through the use of information technology and the Internet.
From the patient’s perspective, nearly 30% of patients can directly access their medical information online, with half provided by hospitals and the other half by insurance companies. However, among these more than 30% of patients who have the conditions to access medical information, only about half actually utilize it.
From a physician’s perspective, the application of internet-based systems in precision medicine holds several key implications:
A robust system can assist physicians in making clinical decisions. For instance, a system developed by Johns Hopkins Medicine in the United States integrates platforms from multiple hospitals to facilitate the practical application of precision medicine.
For example, if a patient reaches the age of 50 without having undergone a colonoscopy, the system will automatically alert the physician during each hospital visit. While the system cannot independently determine treatment plans, it provides auxiliary information to facilitate better clinical decision-making by physicians. Furthermore, physicians can engage in quality control and quality management. Concurrently, hospitals can monitor the work quality of healthcare professionals as a means of quality control.
The application of internet technology to precision medicine fundamentally aims to improve patient care quality and satisfaction. By engaging patients across various dimensions, it facilitates hospitals’ access to patient information and medical resources. From these perspectives, it enhances the effectiveness of healthcare, reduces waste, and supports research in both clinical practice and scientific investigation.