Risks with digital transformation in health care

The Swedish healthcare sector is undergoing a substantial and necessary digital transformation to meet future healthcare needs. Digitalisation facilitates many improvement opportunities in various areas such as patient flows, information sharing, diagnosis support, treatment efficiency, and accessibility. The shift also carries new risks if digital systems are attacked or fail. Digital systems can directly affect patients' health and life, thus requiring adequate cyber security and information security. In addition, dependency on digital systems may cause significant problems for healthcare operations when they fail or are attacked. Improper digital systems may also lower crises preparedness. Efficient digital transformation does not merely mean introducing digital equipment, but also changing processes and work procedures. Digital transformation is not an end in itself, but rather a part of operational adaptations. Badly implemented digital transformation may become a serious work environment problem. Clear responsibilities, flexible organization, and perceived participation among the personnel are important prerequisites for successful digital transformation. It is important to perform a thorough assessment of expected and potential consequences from incidents when using digital systems. Safety, information security, cyber security, and crises preparedness are not automatically included in systems development, but must be managed with great awareness during the entire life cycle.