Digital Edge Digital Edge is a series of industry leading thought papers from a practitioner's point of view, spanning all areas of value creation, digital, tech, AI, talent, new business models and cybersecurity. Follow us for our weekly posts. DNA of Digital Health
July 20, 2021 | By Suja Chandrasekaran, Senior Executive Vice President and Chief Digital & Information Officer, CommonSpirit Health
Digital transformation is reshaping how the health care industry engages with patients and care providers. The first set of initiatives in Digital Health have been focused on developing point capabilities for specific use cases.These solutions shifted digital capabilities to the next level, provided online access points for patient interaction and addressed key issues in patient experience. However one key opportunity was that they only provided discrete patient experiences:
From each point solution to the next point solution we dropped the patients
It was up to the patient to find the next step or the next tool in their care journey
These solutions were light on data-driven engagement
Scalability of solutions by adoption as well as tech scalability was localized and not suited for consumer internet demands
Our next iteration encompasses capabilities that provide a seamless interconnected experience in health care. For patients, this means enjoying a smoother and more convenient experience across all facets of their journey: searching for provider information, scheduling consultations (physical or virtual), leveraging copay options and being able to access their health information. Care provider experience will also improve tremendously by leveraging the power of integrated systems and new technologies. For example, AI can analyze unstructured data from charts and reports to synthesize contextual insights that assist diagnosis.
Our approach to digital is grounded on an obsession of humans - patients, providers, care givers, and employees. As existing capabilities advance and new ones continue to emerge, we have framed a foundational framework of Digital Healthcare products and platforms into four themes.
The framework emphasizes that all digital operations of an enterprise should align so they create improvements across one or more of these experiences: Digital Patient Experience Objective: Transform all segments of the patient’s digital (and human) experience
Discovery: Set up omni-channel integrated digital front doors to facilitate convenience and a homogeneous experience
Access: Create personalized experiences by leveraging data analytics and AI
Engagement: Enhance through improved care, administration and support
Promotion: Drive loyalty and feedback to create closed-loop systems
Care Provider Experience Objective: Engage with care providers to enhance their care delivery experience
Learning: Deliver contextual insights by infusing AI at the point of care
Doing: Automate repetitive tasks to improve quality and efficiency
Engaging: Trigger patient engagement via cognitive nudges
Innovating: Co-innovate with care providers to bring in their clinical expertise
Digital Therapeutics Experience Objective: Enable patients to live healthier via evidence-based, digitally-enabled therapies
Utilize data and insights from remote health monitoring devices and apps
Leverage wearables and embeddable devices that can track and transmit real-time, near-synchronous data
Enhance chronic condition management such as weight management
Personalize patient engagement and education that enable patient self service
Virtual Health Experience Objective: Address the full continuum of the virtual health experience
Community Health: Create human-centric models to pair care navigators with patients
Ambulatory: Equip care providers to conduct virtual examinations on demand
Acute: Enable real-time care from specialist care providers and monitor patient safety
The digital experience for all consumers needs to transform, especially after COVID-19 introduced new operating models. This provides unique opportunities for digital health care as digital empowers patients and providers with greater access and convenience. The next generation of digital health care i.e. Digital 2.0, will see an amplification of all components in the digital health framework. Delivering a successful Digital 2.0 program will require care providers to excel at several key factors; these will be covered in detail in the next edition of the Digital Edge.
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