New Advances in Digital Health Interventions

Dear Colleagues,

Aging populations and the prevalence of chronic diseases are increasing the demand for healthcare, which alongside expensive technology are leading to rising costs of care. The main strategy to curb this increase in the prevalence of chronic diseases has been focused on health promotion and primary health care (PHC). PHC practices are in a unique position in the health care system to both identify patients who need more intensive care and to provide better care to patients with chronic conditions. PHC encompasses a diversity of settings and professionals. Arising from this diversity, several difficulties have already been identified. Lack of coordination and integration of care due to poor communication and interaction between patients and healthcare providers, as well as a lack of proper health information systems (HISs) to manage patient and healthcare provider communication, have been regularly cited as major challenges for the provision of primary care.

PHC digitalization opens a possibility for the collection of structured data to enable tailored care, providing innovative, efficient, and affordable solutions to patients at any time, from anywhere and in a friendly manner. The development of analytical tools supported by HIS that push the management of health conditions to the community may enable policy-makers to better realize the value of PHC services. Giving a greater emphasis to PHC supported by information technologies has the potential to contribute to the sustainability of future health systems and allow the continuous fostering of innovation to the healthcare sector, contributing to its resilience and sustainability.

This Special Issue aims to present the latest developments of digitalization in primary health care. Researchers are invited to submit original research articles,  using any study design, including case studies, implementation/interventional studies, cohort studies, cross-sectional studies, clinical trials and meta-analyses.

Prof. Dr. Luís Velez Lapão
Dr. Marilia Silva Paulo
Dr. João Pedro Pedro Gregório
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Healthcare is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• multimorbidity
• lifestyle
• nutrition
• physical activity
• healthy behaviors
• quality of life
• mental health