Urgency driven innovation is key to building health system readiness in Asia-pacific

Action to ensure preparedness through personalised healthcare not only requires innovation but agile policies to address critical challenges around data accessibility. Dr Charles Alessi, Chief Medical Officer, HIMSS, said "we really are looking to a world where the hospital has very flexible walls, and can actually reach into people's homes using the power of the modalities that we have at our disposal." Policymaking needs to adapt to this new economy to leverage data and emerging technologies and create an environment that allows the use of data to secure the resources needed to deliver personalised healthcare. The new healthcare economy needs empowered citizens and to build trust between healthcare systems and users to ensure confidence in sharing their data. Dr Nares Damrongchai, Chief Executive Officer, Genepeutic Bio, highlighted how "the APAC personalised healthcare index as a tool can enable policy making decisions and that every country can learn from each other." Personalised healthcare can deliver efficiencies that will keep healthcare systems sustainable in the face of rising cost  and an ageing population in Asia – ensuring the right treatment, for the right patients, at the right time.