Digital Health and Big Data
G. Lambrinos highlights the need for an interdisciplinary structure and the adoption of digital systems to upgrade occupational health at the Delphi Economic Forum IX.
Mr. George Lambrinos, President of PASYMEP and & CEO of GEP Group, participated on Friday, April 12, in the panel “Big Data & the Future of Digital Health: A Holistic View”, part of the Health pillar of the Delphi Economic Forum IX. Distinguished co-panelists included Mr. Marios Themistocleous, Deputy Minister of Health, Ms. Niki Tsouma, Chairwoman and CEO of IDIKA, and Mr. Yiannis Tountas, Professor of Social and Preventive Medicine at the Medical School of the University of Athens.
Mr. Lambrinos emphasized that the concept of health should not only concern patients but the general population as a whole, focusing on prevention. As discussed extensively in most panels on digital transformation, one of the most critical issues related to Big Data and secondary data processing is identifying the sources of data collection. Within this context, Mr. Lambrinos highlighted the significant role that public and private sector enterprises can play, as anonymized medical data on employees already exist—albeit in paper form, “in filing cabinets,” as he vividly put it—making them currently inaccessible for utilization.
He notably stressed that, especially in the post-pandemic era, many companies have begun investing private capital in promoting the health and wellbeing of their employees and their families. As he mentioned, this extends into areas such as wellbeing, mental health, nutrition, and physical activity, generating a wealth of data that, with employer initiative, can be recorded in the workplace using private digital platforms designed for this purpose.
Thanks to the excellent initiatives of the current leadership at the Ministry of Health and the technological expertise of IDIKA, we can move toward a Digital Employee Health Record, Mr. Lambrinos stated. In collaboration with private initiatives, this would allow the collection of primary data and facilitate their secondary processing.
Echoing this, Mr. Tountas emphasized that health promotion data are of central importance for the population and that new tools can integrate these preventive data to enhance efficiency.
As Mr. Lambrinos further underlined, evolving the regulatory framework is essential for creating an interdisciplinary structure that supports employee health profiles, with a focus on prevention and health promotion through digital documentation. This would require close collaboration between the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Labour. After all, technology already enables the expansion of the existing Individual Electronic Health Record (IEHR)—and as Ms. Tsouma aptly mentioned during the panel, “the employee’s health file is a subset of data that should be integrated into the IEHR.” Therefore, subject to regulatory amendments, recording employee health data would be technologically feasible.
In conclusion, Mr. Lambrinos addressed the need to cultivate a public culture that overcomes the skepticism around the handling of health data. The regulatory framework is being built and will continue to improve, but we must work with honesty and clarity toward the general public, whose data will form the foundation of this effort. They must understand that processing this information will serve the greater good, contribute to societal advancement, and lead to improved healthcare services for all.
από αριστερά προς τα δεξιά: Παύλος Ευθυμίου, Γενικός Διευθυντής της Ελληνικής Ένωσης Επιχειρηματιών (Ε.ΕΝ.Ε), Μάριος Θεμιστοκλέους, Υφυπουργός Υγείας, Νίκη Τσούμα, Πρόεδρος Δ.Σ & Διευθύνουσα Σύμβουλος ΗΔΙΚΑ Α.Ε, Γιάννης Τούντας, Καθηγητή Κοινωνικής και Προληπτικής Ιατρικής στην Ιατρική Σχολή του Πανεπιστημίου Αθηνών, Γιώργος Λαμπρινός, Πρόεδρος ΠΑ.ΣΥ.Μ.ΕΠ. ΕΞ.Υ.Π.Π. και Πρόεδρος & Διευθύνων Σύμβουλος GEP Group
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