Health Care 4.0: A Vision for Smart and Connected Health Care

Industry 4.0 has transformed manufacturing industry into a new paradigm. In a manner similar to manufacturing, health care delivery is at the dawn of a foundational change into the new era of smart and connected health care, referred to as Health Care 4.0. In this paper, we discuss the historical evolution of Health Care 1.0 to 4.0, describe the characteristics of smart and connected care in Health Care 4.0, identify multiple research challenges and opportunities of Health Care 4.0 in terms of data, model, dynamics, and integration, and outline the implications of people, process, system and health outcomes. Finally, conclusions and recommendations are presented in the areas of (1) involvement of multiple disciplines and perspectives, (2) development of technologies and methodologies with combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches, (3) closed-loop integration of sociotechnical system, and (4) design of person-centered system with specific attention to human needs and health equity.