Saúde Digital Brasil is a non-profit organization whose goal is to expand patients' access to doctors through the use of technology, enabling not only universal access, but also increasing scientific-technological development and innovation in health, even in the post-pandemic world.
Aiming to ensure that technology fulfills its role of expanding access to healthcare and increasingly placing the patient at the center of care, entities that operate in the telemedicine service provision chain and that develop activities related to digital health have come together around this common cause and founded Saúde Digital Brasil (Brazilian Association of Telemedicine and Digital Health Companies). SDB is a non-profit organization that was created with the main objective of ensuring the continuity of healthcare through telemedicine and telehealth throughout the country, even after the pandemic. In addition to enabling universal access, it also promotes scientific and technological development and innovation in healthcare.
At the head of the entity are Eduardo Cordioli (President and representative of the Albert Einstein Hospital) and Caio Soares (Vice-President and representative of Teladoc), supported by Fábio Luís Pinto Tiepolo (Docway Member), Guilherme de Souza Weigert (Conexa Member), Fábio Cunha (DASA Member) and Wilson Shcolnik (Santecorp/Fleury Member).
Working groups were organized to encourage discussion of specific topics, such as information and systems security, including electronic medical records; prescription and dispensing of medications; interoperability between SUS and Supplementary Health systems; clinical protocols and best care practices related to telemedicine, such as informed consent, limits on remote work, among others; and relationships with Medical Specialty Societies.
“We believe in comprehensive telemedicine and its vital role in achieving our goals and ensuring dignified, high-quality care that is also fast, efficient and rational. The use of electronic resources can increase patient engagement, making them the greatest partners in their own health. It is this autonomy of choice that should guide the act of caring for people, regardless of the healthcare professional. In the case of doctors in particular, they have the option of choosing whether or not to use teleconsultation or teleguidance,” explains Eduardo Cordioli, president of SDB.
As a non-profit association, SDB also aims to contribute to the improvement of the healthcare model, the creation of a regulatory framework and the qualified and sustainable development of the healthcare sector.
The role of telemedicine and digital health
Telehealth and telemedicine, which gained the spotlight during the pandemic and saved many lives, are undoubtedly tools that expand access to healthcare and reduce costs. A large portion of the population was safely assisted and companies took adequate care of their employees using technology. Through them, it is possible to improve the patient experience, reduce waste, avoid delays in diagnosis and procedures and, therefore, bring more quality to the population's health.
“If they were so important in the last year, precisely because they expanded access and directed patients to the most appropriate location for their care journey, why couldn’t they be used after this period? What country in the world only creates an army during wartime? Isn’t this the tool to truly increase the Brazilian population’s access to healthcare? Isn’t this the tool for more humanized care for a population that has already suffered? Isn’t this the way to significantly reduce the pressure for care in the public system? Learning never stops, we must always be training, alert, and improving our use of technology, even in normal times,” Cordioli asks.
About Digital Health Brazil
The Brazilian Association of Telemedicine and Digital Health Companies, known as Saúde Digital Brasil (SDB), is a non-profit organization created to bring together entities that operate in the telemedicine service provision chain and that develop activities related to digital health.
Founded in 2020, the entity's main goal is to defend the cause of healthcare through telemedicine and telehealth in Brazil and to create regulations that guarantee its continuity. In addition, the SBD works to contribute to the improvement of the healthcare model, increase scientific and technological development and innovation, and qualified and sustainable development of the healthcare sector.
