Addressing the US Maternal Health Crisis using Digital Health Technologies
1Liebert, J., 2Arnaert, A., & 2Debe, Z.
1Private Practice Psychiatry, Arizona, USA
2McGill University, Ingram School of Nursing, Canada
Universal Health Care is both a need and politically obfuscated crisis in the USA; however, we are questioning whether comparing the needs and politics of health care in this country to other countries with universal health care, such as Canada and England, is beneficial. Our needs and politics are so different and complex compared to all other nations that we need to assess them differently in a disciplined and objective way in order to propose solutions that are evidence-based and beneficial to all. Either “Medicare for all” or the “one-payer system” may work well in other nations, but neither will likely work in the US. Incarceration is over a million in USA with excessively concentrated populations, as we are finding out the hard way thanks to Covid-19, but what about rural and inner city populations lacking access to healthcare due to geographic remoteness or socioeconomic barriers respectively? Hundreds are shot every week in downtown Chicago; the cost of their care is totally atypical for Americans, unless deployed to high risk combat zones that where casualties have currently been reduced worldwide for our military. One must ask, therefore, when considering universal healthcare whether it is politically practical to spread the costs of Chicago’s gun violence – mostly gang warfare – to communities where uninsured or underinsured patients are few to none – i.e. Bellevue, Washington or Scottsdale, Arizona where residents have access to high quality jobs or are financially secure in retirement? Once an excessively costly solution to such a complex geographic and socioeconomic diverse landscape, the healthcare technology costs have plummeted to the point where nearly anyone, anywhere can FaceTime any doctor anywhere and anytime. Patients with known risk factors and evolving disease processes can be monitored remotely regardless of where they are. Ironically, Covid-19 has forced nearly all practicing physicians to adopt the use of digital health for patients unable to present in hospitals or clinics. Conn (2013) found that telepsychiatry, for example, can save hospitals an estimated $1,000 per patient and can reduce readmissions by up to 62%. Not all medical specialties or allied health professions have been studied for such “service optimization” – or highest quality care at lowest cost – but likely digital health applications can reduce costs and improve clinical outcomes in all healthcare disciplines. In the post-Covid world, we will likely look back and see how the ingenuity of American medicine has proven just that in order to keep at risk patients at home.
#McGill University places 20th globally in the inaugural Ignition Schools rankings, which rate universities on their success in fostering innovation and entrepreneurship. The list, released by Fast Company and Inc., evaluates 900 academic institutions worldwide, highlighting those with the greatest impact on business and innovation.
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McGill places 20th worldwide for innovation and entrepreneurship in new rankings - McGill Reporter
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