Assessing Resilience in Digital Healthcare Systems Based on a Markov Model

Abstract

Digital healthcare systems' resilience can be a critical aspect of ensuring patient's health, while robust digital infrastructure can further enhance overall health system resilience. The developments in digital transformation, the rapid penetration of emerging technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence and the Medical Internet of Things, along with the challenges of the healthcare sector highlighted by the COVID-19 pandemic, pointed the necessity to assess whether critical digital health delivery remain resilient. This study aims to create a resilience assessment model designed to estimate the critical digital infrastructure resilience and to identify deficiencies that require immediate intervention. Drawing on the insights of Information Technology (IT) executives, a Markov model was developed, incorporating the redundancies, observed transition rates and reasonable assumptions. The sustainability of Hospital Information System (HIS) and the interventions implemented upon identifying critical vulnerabilities, can contribute significantly to efficiency, and uninterrupted access to healthcare services.

Keywords: Critical infrastructure; Markov model; healthcare IT systems; information technology; resilience assessment.