In an era where information is abundant and digital platforms offer nearly unrestricted access to knowledge, many people struggle to navigate the deluge of information. Coupled with the phenomenon of rapidly spreading disinformation on the internet, a dangerous combination is emerging, one that will pose significant challenges to healthcare systems in the future. In this video Alexander Sängerlaub (director and co-founder of futur eins) talks about the "brave new communication world".

Platform economy presents opportunities and risks as globally operating tech companies enter the market with new healthcare platforms. National healthcare systems could position themselves in this space with their own offerings and public platforms. This would bring up a range of opportunities for public health.
The experts Dr. Matthias Naab and Dr. Marcus Trapp (Co-Founders of Full Flamingo, formerly at Fraunhofer IESE) present the advantages.

The vision of a national health platform raises questions about the origin of the content and services offered there. A demand-driven offering requires a diverse range of information and services, which a single provider may struggle to fulfill alone. However, the platform operator does not have to create the content. The following considerations of Prof. Dr. Laura Schulte explore whether the platform operator should generate it's own information or focus on facilitating third-party information.

A health ecosystem must fulfill several requirements if it is to bring value to stakeholders within a health system. International models have demonstrated that a successful operational model combines the active participation and coordination among involved actors with common technical standards. Dr. Tobias Silberzahn (McKinsey) presents best-practice-examples from abroad.

Interview with Sangeet Paul Choudary (author, advisor, and founder of Platformation Labs). Network effects and economies of scale can lead to rapid growth, to the point that individual platform providers already have more data than traditional actors within the healthcare system. In parallel, closed systems and monopolies on data complicate the ability to switch providers and give rise to technological dependencies, which generate new powers. The video explains the role that public platforms could play in this regard.

On the internet, people are increasingly encountering bots and convincingly realistic video manipulations that blur the boundaries between fiction and reality, further eroding trust in information. The echo chambers of social networks are already giving rise to isolated public spheres where false and misleading information can spread "virally" at high speed. In this video Alexander Sängerlaub (director and co-founder of futur eins) explains where disinformation actually originates and how healthcare systems could address this issue.

When developing a structural model for a prospective national health platform, it seems reasonable to assume, at least at first, that some kind of state-run service would be the most ideal provider. We should not forget, however, that the provision of information by the state – which we define as the communication of a range of information, warnings and recommendations – is subject to specific legal standards and guidelines. In the video, Prof. Dr. Laura Schulte (Hochschule Bielefeld) examines the extent to which information can and should be provided by the state, if at all, and under what circumstances it is even possible and/or advisable to operate a national health platform in the form of a state-run information service.