The article analyses the factors influencing the emergence of digital health at the present stage, examining the e-health ecosystem, its main modules and their impact on the effectiveness of patient relationships. Some of the challenges inherent in the process of digitalization of the healthcare industry are explored. The authors point out that a distinctive feature of the current stage of digitalization is the rapid generation of volumes of useful data, related to the processes of disease diagnosis and treatment. The dynamics of the development of the global digital medicine market in the period from 2018 is presented, a forecast is made for its development until 2024, including by market segments and regions of the world. It is shown that, thanks to digitalization, the healthcare industry is moving to a qualitatively new level of its development. The authors analyse the reasons for changes in the structure of the global e-health market, and consider some aspects of investment in this industry.