[Extract] The adoption of the digitally smart health facilities (DSHFs) concept introduces a new paradigm in today’s public health environment, potentially opening possibilities for addressing many challenges. This editorial explores the concept, emphasizing its potential to revolutionize the health care landscape by integrating digital infrastructure, tools, services and digital literacy within the planning and construction or renovation of health facilities at all levels of care. This innovative concept could pave the way for transformative changes in health care delivery, and improve patients’ outcomes and operational efficiencies, bringing health care closer to patients not only during day-to-day operations but also during health emergencies and disasters. This editorial highlights the significant contributions made by digital health solutions to the safe hospitals initiative led by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), emphasizing the role of information and communication technologies in enhancing access to care. A safe hospital is one in which services remain accessible and is able to function at maximum capacity and within its usual infrastructure immediately following a natural disaster. The term includes all health facilities, regardless of the level of care they offer (1). The digital age offers the potential to better navigate public health emergencies and disasters through the innovative application of digital health solutions, supported by appropriate information and communication technologies infrastructure, such as connectivity and bandwidth (2, 3). Embracing such technological advancements not only enhances the quality of health services but also boosts their resilience and ensures their accessibility, including in times of global health crises. The concept of DSHFs holds the potential to be a critical element in the development of more resilient health systems that are grounded in the principles of primary health care (4-6). In an era characterized by the United Nations SecretaryGeneral’s High-Level Panel on Digital Cooperation as the age of digital interdependence (7), in which technology continually redefines the limits of what is possible, the health care sector stands at the edge of a revolutionary transformation. The introduction of DSHFs offers a preview into a future in which health care delivery, patient care and operational efficiency are fundamentally redefined. [...]
