Transforming Healthcare: Insights from the COVID-19 Crisis and the Future of HealthTech, Telemedicine, and Connected Health

This study assesses connected health (CH) impact across age groups during COVID-19. We qualitatively analyze CH platforms in Taiwan and mainland China through semi-structured interviews with 23 participants. Findings emphasize CH's role in enhancing health quality, notably in lockdown situations, despite challenges like reimbursement and regulations. Effective leadership and management are crucial for successful CH implementation. Leveraging CH's benefits while addressing obstacles optimizes health outcomes. CH proves vital for health management during COVID-19, with its remote features enhancing quality, underscoring the importance of adept leadership and challenge resolution.

I. Introduction

COVID-19 prompted social distancing, conflicting with social needs. Connected health (CH) tech emerged for health management while distancing^1–2. Affordability and accessibility concerns raised self-protective behavior issues^3-4. Quality of life hinges on innovative solutions^5-7. This study explores CH roles in telemedicine, e-health, and m-health, assessing remote diagnosis contributions⁸. It scrutinizes CH's market-pull and tech-push evolution pre-and post-COVID-19^9-10. Pandemic spurred tech progress for challenges, demanding innovations¹¹. CH emerged for pandemic responses, optimizing healthcare by improving resources, cost, and patient satisfaction^12–13. CH facilitates patient-provider communication, aiding care control^14–15. Virtual care platforms expanded healthcare during the pandemic. CH adoption grew due to the pandemic (market-pull) ¹⁶. Prior constraints like policies, fees, and adoption persist but regulatory updates emerged¹⁷. Barriers remain, including legal, ethical, privacy, and workforce concerns, hindering CH widespread adoption.