Rheumatology in the digital health era: status quo and quo vadis?

Rheumatology faces a critical shortage of health-care professionals, exacerbated by an ageing patient population and escalating costs, resulting in widening gaps in care. Exponential advances in digital health technologies (DHTs) in the past 5 years offer new opportunities to address these challenges and could contribute to overall improved health care. However, keeping pace with innovations and integrating them into clinical practice can be challenging. This Review explores the transformative potential of DHTs for rheumatology in reshaping the entire patient pathway and redefining the roles of patients and providers, and discusses the potential barriers to DHT integration. Key technologies, such as large language models, clinical decision-support systems, digital therapeutics, electronic patient-reported outcomes, digital biomarkers, robots, self-sampling devices and artificial intelligence-based scribes, can be implemented along the patient pathway. A digital-first hybrid stepped-care patient pathway could combine in-person and remote care, enabling personalized and continuous monitoring through a digital safety net. The potential benefits and risks of transforming the traditional patient–provider relationship into a digital health triad with technology are discussed. Collaborative efforts are needed to navigate the evolving digital health landscape and harness the potential of DHTs to improve rheumatology care. Digital health has the potential to improve patient care in rheumatology and alleviate strain on the health-care system. This Review explores the current status of the transition from traditional health care to a model that harnesses the potential of digital health technologies, including discussion of the main benefits and barriers. Key points Digital health improves access to care by offering decentralized and continuous services along the entire patient pathway that effectively bridge current care gaps. Digital-first hybrid care models and integrating remote and in-person care enable more flexible and need-adapted patient monitoring, reducing unnecessary visits and improving resource allocation in rheumatology. Digital health technologies empower patients to take a more active role in self-managing their conditions. Implementation of artificial intelligence reduces the burden of care for patients and health-care professionals and fosters data-driven medical decisions. Regulatory hurdles, reimbursement and scarcity of evidence represent major b