OBJECTIVES: DHI is a broad, multidisciplinary concept that applies digital transformation to the healthcare field. We aimed to review the implementation of DHI in APAC region through a targeted literature search.

METHODS: Comprehensive searches were conducted in peer-reviewed publications platforms PubMed and Google scholar to identify the studies assessing digital transformation of healthcare and its implementation. The key search terms used (alone or in combination) included “Digital technology”, “Digital transformation”, “Digital health innovations”, “Health care”, etc. between 2000 and 2022. To compliment the database search results, the searches were expanded to include non-academic articles, conference abstracts, and case reports.

RESULTS: We included 24 studies in total (Australia, n=10; India, n=4; Singapore, China, and Taiwan, n=2 each; Japan, South Korea, Thailand, and Malaysia, n=1 each). Study designs included perspective/point of view report (42%), case study (38%), and web-based survey (20%). Tele-health/smart access devices (63%) were the most common modalities used. Others (37%) included remote patient monitoring, electronic medical records, etc. Psychiatry (35%) was the discipline with most topics being reviewed for digital health, followed by cancer care (21%), diabetes (19%), hypertension (15%), and oral problems (10%). The observations showed that developed markets like Singapore, South Korea, Australia, Taiwan, and Japan are considered advanced markets for DHT because of their governments' progressive approaches towards the use of DHTs. Analyses have shown that APAC digital health market is projected to grow by 34.2% CAGR over the next 5 years (2020-2026). Geriatric health was observed to the key driver of DHI in the APAC region.

CONCLUSIONS: In APAC countries, there has been a surge in interest in using DHTs mostly focused on mental health and cancer care. However, there is need for more studies to investigate the impact of the use of DHTs/DHI in the improvement of patient outcomes in real-world clinical practice.