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.

风湿病学面临医疗保健专业人员的严重短缺，而患者人口老龄化和成本上升加剧了这种情况，导致护理差距不断扩大。过去 5 年数字健康技术 （DHT） 的指数级进步为应对这些挑战提供了新的机会，并可能有助于整体改善医疗保健。然而，跟上创新的步伐并将其整合到临床实践中可能具有挑战性。本综述探讨了 DHT 在风湿病学中的变革潜力，在重塑整个患者路径和重新定义患者和提供者的角色方面，并讨论了 DHT 整合的潜在障碍。关键技术，如大型语言模型、临床决策支持系统、数字疗法、电子患者报告结果、数字生物标志物、机器人、自我采样设备和基于人工智能的抄写员，都可以在患者路径中实施。数字优先的混合阶梯式护理患者路径可以将面对面和远程护理相结合，通过数字安全网实现个性化和持续的监控。讨论了将传统的患者-提供者关系转变为数字健康与技术三元组的潜在好处和风险。需要共同努力来驾驭不断发展的数字健康环境，并利用 DHT 的潜力来改善风湿病护理。