The pandemic’s reshaping care delivery proves that flexible, patient-centered engagement strategies are the way forward. But as digital health tools continue to spread, experts warn that clinical value (rather than hype) must guide adoption and that collaboration across the healthcare ecosystem is critical to sustain progress.
Here are three key principles that currently guide health system strategy, as the panel said on Wednesday Medcity News'Investment Conference in Chicago.
Stay flexible in the way your patients interact.
During the pandemic, providers have developed a huge focus on virtual care. The care delivery model looks a lot different now than it did in 2020, but Telehealth is still a hardwired component.
In her eyes, one of the biggest lessons learned from the pandemic is that there are multiple ways to interact with patients and that different approaches apply to different groups.
“My daughter is a physical assistant in a specialty GI group at our organization, and she leads an inflammatory bowel disease specialty program. She has a lot of patients who, for convenience — for their work schedules, for transportation issues — have found that having that virtual connection is important to them. We didn't have that as hard-wired as we wanted it to be, so we scaled quickly,” Orsky explained.
Prisma has also begun expanding its remote patient monitoring efforts as another way to keep patients engaged in healthcare, she added.
Don't adopt a digital health solution because it causes a lot of buzz – that doesn't mean it will generate clinical benefits.
Jesse Ehrenfeld, former president of the American Medical Association, said providers need digital tools to create value – and real value is more than just rewarding investors.
He noted that a report released last year by the Peterson Institute for Health Technology found that diabetes management solutions often fail to provide meaningful clinical benefits, while also increasing health care spending. Despite the fact that many companies that offer these solutions, such as Livongo, Omada Health and Virta Health, do a great job of getting investments and contracts.
“Companies that did a good job – made a lot of money – had zero clinical impact, which was unsustainable. It was disconnected. One thing that was really important to us in AMA is: How do we make sure we have tools that are actually effective – is there evidence behind them?” Ellenfeld said.
Remember that collaboration is key to improving clinical outcomes over the long term.
The country is in a chronic disease epidemic. Every year, millions of Americans have new qualifying for Medicare — most with two or more chronic diseases, he noted that HealthSNAP CEO Samson Magid is a startup that helps providers care for long-term patients through its remote patient monitoring platform.
He noted that many of the well-known platforms for chronic disease management will be sold to payers and employers, but with providers’ HealthSNAP partners.
“From day one, our argument is to actually make a difference at the system level, and you need to work with the provider, which is hard to do. Our focus is, how do we integrate clinically? How do we make sure we don't destroy clinical clinical ROI? How do we improve clinical ROI, how do we demonstrate financial ROI?” Magid explained.
Over the past few years, HealthSNAP has realized that scaling remote patient monitoring for long-term patients requires a lot of collaboration, not just with providers. Just last week, the company announced a remote patient surveillance alliance with seven direct competitors.
The alliance aims to promote greater use of remote patient monitoring and work with lawmakers to share data and accelerate adoption.
“We recognize the value and impact of these programs on the chronic conditions of our country – they will be unsustainable in the long run, and they will not exist. It is a loss for everyone,” Magid said.
Photo: Nick Fanion, breaking the media
Editor's Note: The panel discussion mentioned in this article is sponsored by HealthSNAP.
