Digital Health Technology: A Key to Value-Based Care
Over the past two decades, the U.S. healthcare system has steadily moved toward value-based care models, which prioritize healthcare quality and outcomes. This shift requires health systems to address the specific needs of diverse patient populations effectively, making strategic population health initiatives crucial for success.
Dan Shields, CEO of digital medicine at Ochsner Health, explained the core of population health: “[Population health is] at its core getting people to do what they’re supposed to do to manage their health.” He noted the concept revolves around helping patients actively manage their own health.
Digital health technology is proving essential in improving care accessibility and patient outcomes. At the Payer + Provider 2024 virtual summit, Shields and other panelists detailed how technology is helping healthcare providers to reach patients and personalize population health efforts, bringing them closer to value-based care.
Technology-Driven Strategies in Population Health
Technology is being implemented in many areas of healthcare, but some examples stand out as highly effective for boosting population health:
Enhanced Disease Screening
OSF Healthcare uses digital health technology to boost disease screening rates. Brandi Clark, vice president of digital care at OSF OnCall, described the health system’s automated tool: “Trying to meet the patients where they are through that digital experience and then feeding them directly into a self-scheduling workflow that then allows the patient to actually schedule that appointment at the time that’s convenient for them is so much more efficient than sending letters in snail mail, than calling patients or waiting for them to call us to schedule those appointments.”
Improved Chronic Disease Management
Digital health technology facilitates better outcomes for patients with chronic diseases, including those who require intensive care. Kristina M. Kury, M.D., medical director of the Eden ICU at Sutter Health Hospital and regional medical director at Sound Critical Care East Bay, highlighted a new technology used in the ICU to guide sepsis treatment. This tool involves a wireless, wearable Doppler ultrasound device that aids clinicians with fluid resuscitation. The device provides real-time data about patients’ cardiovascular performance, enabling better decisions regarding fluid administration.
Providing remote care and helping patients avoid the hospital is another goal. Ochsner Health is implementing remote patient monitoring technologies to help manage type 2 diabetes and hypertension. Patients receive tools like wireless blood pressure cuffs and glucometers to track their health, and the collected data is sent directly to their care team via a smartphone application. Patients receive guidance if their readings are outside of the normal range and can connect with health coaches.
Dan Shields stated, “We can monitor them. We can make decisions based on three, four or five data points a week as opposed to one or maybe two a year if people are even going to see their provider [that often] …We really think that this is the way these conditions should be treated nationally.”
Overcoming Challenges and Misconceptions
Panelists discussed how successful technology adoption depends on addressing various critical factors.
For example, data management is considered a major challenge. Clark pointed out that patient data from digital programs is used to identify patients and determine who is appropriate for specific programs. Gathering and standardizing data from various sources, including digital health tools, EMRs, and billing systems, is complex.
Furthermore, misconceptions about the populations they serve might hinder the success of technology-based population health programs. Kury noted that many healthcare professionals worry that seniors might be reluctant to use digital health technologies, but Sutter’s experience shows that this is often not the case. She explained that “Once you introduce it and educate them, there are no more barriers. They love it, and they embrace it.”
Shields supported this idea, pointing out the danger of assumptions and underscoring the compliance of the Medicaid population. According to Shields, data from Ochsner’s digital care programs showed that their “compliance rates as high or higher, [but] we saw the same outcomes in that population that we saw in Medicare and in commercial [payer populations], but actually their NPS was a 91.” This indicates a high level of satisfaction.
Conclusion:
By keeping patients at the center of technology deployment and taking into account the needs of different populations, healthcare stakeholders can improve population health and advance toward more value-based care.
