Digital transformation of healthcare: innovation, sustainability and better outcomes

The dawn of a new golden age  

Jennifer Doudna, the Stanford University biochemist who won a Nobel Prize for her role in developing the CRISPR gene editing tool, is right to think that we are living through “an extraordinary time of accelerating discoveries.” Our era may yet parallel a previous age of discovery between the 1940s and 1960s, when antibiotics, vaccines and new surgical techniques contributed to a remarkable rise in life expectancy across most of the world.  

Today, however, the healthcare systems undergoing digital transformation in Europe and North America are under mounting pressure. To optimise existing treatments and deliver new ones efficiently, radical transformation is required. Many emerging strategies are associated with the concept of eHealth, first coined in the late 1990s to describe digital, networked and patient-centred models of healthcare delivery. Since then, much has changed, including the emergence of artificial intelligence (AI), which has the potential to reshape clinical practice and healthcare management. 

Key challenges in 21st century healthcare 

Demographic change 

Around the world, populations are ageing as lifespans increase and fertility rates decline. Average life expectancy worldwide is expected to reach 78 years in 2050, up from 67 in 2000. At this point, over-65s are expected to account for 23% of the U.S. population and 29% in Europe. As a result, healthcare systems will be confronted by a rising number of patients living longer lives but frequently suffering from multiple, often chronic, conditions. In the U.S., eight out of ten over-65s already live with a mix of such illnesses. 

Maintaining a healthy population 

Two-thirds of healthcare investment in advanced economies is devoted to the working-age population. Yet healthcare systems are struggling to cope with the rising impact of chronic and non-communicable disease, including preventable cancers, cardiovascular conditions, diabetes and alcohol-related disorders. In the EU, 424,000 working-age adults die from chronic and non-communicable disease annually, resulting in the loss of 2.4 million potentially productive life years. 

The workforce crisis 

In the context of a global shortage of healthcare workers predicted to reach 4.1 million by 2030, high-income nations may not be able to continue importing medical talent indefinitely. In some cases, the available pool of healthcare workers is shrinking. In Mexico, for example, the support ratio, or the percentage of working individuals to those who are retired, has already declined from nearly 13:1 in 1997 and is expected to fall below 4:1 by 2050. Healthcare systems in advanced economies will increasingly need to find additional ways of addressing staff shortages, employee burnout and poor productivity. AI is well-positioned to help. 

Rising costs and fiscal sustainability 

The rising cost of healthcare is an issue across the industrialised world. In the U.S., healthcare now accounts for 17.2% of GDP, according to the OECD. In the EU, the figure is 10.0%. Average OECD healthcare expenditure was 7% in 2020. It is now 12.8%. 

Regardless of their very different organisational models, healthcare systems in North America and Europe face similar challenges. A recent McKinsey & Company analysis of the U.S. healthcare system, for example, asked whether the future involved an approaching “golden age” or “gathering storm”. In the UK, the government’s long-term plan for the National Health Service (NHS), published in July 2025, framed the alternatives in similar terms. 

The role of digital transformation 

Governments and healthcare institutions are using technology to transform medical care. In particular, three broad strategies aim to greatly expand the role of preventative medicine. 

1. The demand side: community care and digital platforms 

Healthcare systems are intensifying their focus on primary care, transforming it into a multi-disciplinary, digitally enabled network for early diagnosis, treatment and management of chronic and non-communicable disease. Evidence suggests that this approach can result in significant benefits, reducing the costs and complication rates of surgical procedures by comparison with hospitals. 

The UK government’s new strategy for NHS England aims to treat patients digitally by default, in a patient’s home, if possible, in a neighbourhood health centre when needed, or in a hospital if necessary. In Finland, ‘digital clinics’ already treat 3.3 million residents, while hospital-at-home schemes in Portugal reduce the length of hospital stays for acute patients. 

Across the developed world, patient access to electronic health records (EHRs), e-prescriptions and online booking systems is expanding. Digital apps for are developing rapidly. In Germany, for example, apps and wearable sensors that help patients detect and address specific conditions, including sepsis and skin cancer. 

2. The supply side: digitising healthcare 

In the U.S., transactional relationships between healthcare ‘payers’ (eg insurers) and ‘providers’ (eg hospitals) remain highly complex. Here, generative AI is already helping to accelerate payments and reduce errors. 

Clinical productivity seems likely to improve thanks to AI scribes, digital assistants that listen to clinician-patient conversations and then summarise them for EHRs. Recent trials in Norway, Sweden and the UK suggest these tools save time, improve patient interaction and are widely appreciated by doctors. 

Few doubt that AI will be woven into multiple care pathways. In radiology and oncology, for example, AI can enable early diagnosis, increase precision and assist clinical decision making. Yet obstacles remain, including workflow integration, regulatory concerns and acceptance by both medical staff and patients. 

3. Large-scale data analytics 

To expand preventative approaches, real-time data exchange, integrated workflows and more data-driven decision making are required. 

The need for foundational data strategies is clear. In France, Ségur Numérique, launched in 2021, has become the basis for achieving this goal. Key benefits include health data sharing between institutions, improved care pathways and the deployment of Mon Espace Santé, a digital health record adopted by 24 million users.  

Using data and analytics to identify high-risk patients, predict complications and intervene early has resulted in significant total care cost reductions in the U.S. In part, the EU’s European Health Data Space (EHDS) is designed to enable similar solutions by aggregating health data from across the continent for research, innovation and policymaking. 

In addition, the UK government is promising to deliver what it describes as a ‘genomics population health service’ based upon universal testing of newborns and population-wide risk scoring. The aim is to enable early identification of individuals at high risk of developing common diseases. 

CES insight lens: digital eHealth 

Each year, the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) attracts 150,000 attendees to giant exhibition halls in Las Vegas to examine thousands of new products and services. CES is a vast shop window for the technology industry. Once, gadgets were the main attraction. Today, a shift is under way: with hardware now surrounded by software ecosystems, the boundaries between the technology industry, healthcare and wellness have started to blur. 

Technologies that once required implants or strict clinical protocols are now sold online for a few hundred dollars. The options at CES this year included three startups keen to bring vagus nerve stimulation to the mass market. Increasingly, questions about medical rigour, marketing overreach and long-term impact hang in the air. 

Consumer technology increasingly shapes patients’ expectations. In most doctors’ surgeries, a referral is required before blood tests can be conducted at a nearby hospital. CES, by contrast, was awash with continuous, non-invasive measurement devices, including connected jewellery that tracks vital signs. As wearables shrink in size, they increasingly become a gateway to something else: a world of personalised health data, beautifully curated on screen, but frequently disconnected from formal healthcare systems. 

Notably, research institutes, biotech startups and pharmaceutical companies were absent from CES. In this world of devices and data, the challenges of differential diagnosis and the resources required to create breakthrough therapies are largely invisible. This is not a failure on CES’s part. In consumer tech, short cycles and rapid scalability matter above all else as early detection can be useful in treating many conditions and well-informed patients are generally healthier. 

 Yet many healthcare professionals will inevitably wonder whether these benefits are outweighed by the risk of more false positives, more overdiagnosis and more anxiety among patients. These concerns remain valid and require further investigation. Increasingly, the challenge will be to respond to the raised expectations created by consumer-facing health tech in a way that aligns with sustainable, integrated healthcare delivery.  
 
- Florence Sardas, Partner, Chief Transformation Officer, Forvis Mazars Group

Delivering the right outcomes 

The Forvis Mazars C-suite barometer, an annual survey of over 3,000 business leaders worldwide, identifies the digital transformation projects being prioritised across multiple vertical sectors. Three dominant themes are visible: an intense focus on data strategy, new approaches to governance and deployment of emerging technologies. 

The eHealth agenda has similar priorities. However, delivering successful outcomes will involve navigating sector-specific challenges. 

• Advanced analytics require well-structured, high-quality data. However, healthcare data typically sits in silos, much of it poorly coded and labelled, sometimes handwritten. 
• Substantial engineering will be required to connect new technologies to existing platforms and clinical workflows. Ensuring data protection and upgrading cyber security may prove challenging. 
• Solutions will need to be co-created with medical professionals who will not accept ‘black box’ AI systems. In the same way as the banking industry, healthcare will need to deploy explainable AI, so that medical staff can query the solutions recommended by machines. Beyond this, a host of concerns lie in wait in the workplace, including fears about the erosion of skills, algorithmic bias and negative impacts on doctor-patient relationships. 
• Making preventative healthcare sustainable will require more than AI. In Europe, healthcare professionals largely agree on the need for increasingly assertive government policy, including taxes, regulatory policy and legal restrictions designed to safeguard public health. However, this consensus is not always universally shared. The OECD, meanwhile, continues to urge the sector to improve budgeting and financial controls. Managers must drive down waste, inefficiency and variations in treatment, which can account for as much as 20% of healthcare budgets. 

Beyond the excitement of news headlines detailing the potential of AI, Forvis Mazars recommends that healthcare leaders focus on the following key steps to support transformation. 

• Co-designing solutions with healthcare professionals. Technical solutions must support service delivery. Healthcare projects are successful when they are shaped around the realities of care delivery and grounded in strong ethical principles. Early engagement with healthcare professionals remains a key factor in ensuring effective implementation. 
• Modernising outdated IT infrastructure. Healthcare organisations face substantial challenges involving legacy technology, IT infrastructure, interoperability and cyber security. The challenge of aligning these information systems with strategic priorities lies at the heart of debates within healthcare. 
• Building a unified culture involving IT, compliance and cyber security. Healthcare providers sometimes struggle to create shared digital transformation strategies. Leadership teams need to create a consistent strategy with clear goals that takes into account the need to manage resistance to change. 

• High-quality data governance and security. In Europe, organisations need to adopt transparent and ethical data‑governance frameworks, supported by long‑term ambitions delivered through successive stages of maturity. Without patient trust, AI adoption is likely to remain limited. 
• Supporting healthcare professionals through transition. Restricted investment in training continues to limit the impact of technology in healthcare, often forcing staff into inefficient workarounds. Addressing this challenge is critical to realising the full potential of AI. The priority must be to strengthen digital skills, position AI as a support tool and reassure the workforce about the enduring importance of the human dimension. 

Managing the risks, reaping the rewards 

 AI is a maturing technology. Deployed correctly, it will continue to increase productivity, improve clinical outcomes and expand access to care. These benefits will be highly valued by healthcare institutions. However, achieving these goals will not be without cost or risk. To deliver digital transformation successfully, healthcare leaders will need to collaborate closely with funders to define which outcomes matter most, identify the solutions that will deliver the greatest value and determine the right timeframes. This process will inevitably involve difficult decisions, but with flexible strategy, agile teams and strong governance, these risks can be managed. 

Most senior healthcare leaders continue to believe that combining preventative medicine with digital transformation is the only way to make today’s healthcare systems sustainable and tomorrow’s discoveries a reality. The case has been made. Now is the time to prove it.