The American Medical Association has released a blueprint as a call to action to address the divide between unprecedented levels of digital health funding, partnerships, mergers and acquisitions. – and their far-reaching impact, to date, on improving the quality of health care
WHY IT IMPORTANT
The report, Disconnecting Digital Health: A Blueprint for Optimizing Digital Supportive Care includes six basic actions recommended by the AMA:
- Built for patients and clinicians.
- Design with a fair lens.
- Re-center care around the patient-doctor relationship.
- Improve and adopt payment models that incentivize high-value care.
- Create technologies and policies that reduce fragmentation.
- Scale evidence-based models quickly.
More than $100 billion in venture funding has been invested in digital health companies since 2010, but that investment doesn’t address healthcare’s greatest need, according to the report. AMA.
“Despite progress this decade, the US health care system has shown little – in the past 10 years, we have made minimal progress in addressing ongoing challenges.” in healthcare in terms of access, quality, outcomes, affordability and equity, even with the introduction of promising new digital health tools. has yet to reach its full potential,” AMA officials said.
Achieving the promise of digitally powered health requires healthcare stakeholders to adopt six pillars and work collaboratively.
The blueprint, developed with support from Manatt Health, also provides an opportunity for all healthcare stakeholders to contribute to the optimization of well-supported care. Digital and AMA cite examples from several organizations.
As a result, each stakeholder group — doctors, health plans, employers, policymakers, health tech companies, and venture capitalists/equity funds — has a role to play. For health technology companies, that role includes seeking input from patients and suppliers on the design of new, technology-focused digital health tools. with health and simplify supplier workflows.
Doctors are not just end users in the blueprint. They can join the AMA Physician Innovation Network platform and actively participate in influencing developers to create human-centered solutions. They should also pursue partnerships to expand their ability to serve patients, the AMA said.
Citing Concert Health, a digital behavioral health group that integrates telemedicine behavioral health clinicians into existing primary care operations, the AMA said that digital services Coordinated digitalization has improved access to behavioral health care for patients in small, rural, and larger health facilities.
TREND TO BIGGER WOMAN
Past AMA surveys and studies show that physicians are more open to integrating digital technologies to improve patient access and health outcomes, and commend the improvements. for the doctor’s workflow.
A triplicate survey of 1,300 physicians conducted between 2016-2022 that the AMA released in September found that adoption of digital tools is accelerating.
However, earlier this year, respondents to the organization’s telehealth survey expressed that while they wish to increase telehealth use in their practice, the digital divide is the biggest barrier. .
Therefore, “the AMA will advocate for equitable access to under-resourced patient populations and communities, including, but not limited to, support for increased funding and planning for infrastructure.” such as broadband and internet-connected devices.”
ON PROFILE
“When equitably designed and thoughtfully integrated, digital health tools can enhance and enhance care efficiency,” said AMA president Dr. Jack Resneck Jr. said in a statement.
“Typically, however, digital health products exist in vaults and are at risk of further fragmentation, higher costs, and a diminished experience of care,” he said. “Optimizing the full potential of digital care requires a collaborative effort, and the blueprint provided by the AMA outlines opportunities for physicians and other stakeholders to collaborate. to improve the health of the nation.”
Andrea Fox is the senior editor of Healthcare IT News.
Email: [email protected]
Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS publication.
