In 2019, the 27th annual International Conference on Health

Promoting Hospitals and Health Services (International HPH

Conference) is hosted by the Polish HPH Network

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The title and focus of the conference is:

"BALANCING HIGH TECH AND HIGH TOUCH IN HEALTH CARE: CHALLENGES AND CHANCES OF DIGITALIZATION FOR DIALOGUE“

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High tech and high touch – are these competing or even contradictory issues or reconcilable principles for the future of health care and health promotion? The titles of two scientific articles, “Disruptive Innovation – Low Touch” and “Getting High-Tech to Remain High-Touch ”, phrase two extreme perspectives on these issues. However, viewpoints, positions and arguments are continuously challenged by rapid technological and social developments - it is probably not that simple!

There is a lot of discourse on the effects of ongoing digitalization on health care, but to find out which opportunities and challenges result for health promotion in health care, is an even more complex endeavor.

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This conference intends to address these questions from a variety of perspectives. Technological development and digitalization are just parts of global megatrends, which affect societies in general, and by that also population health and health care.