Shaping the Future of Digital Health: Key Themes for the C-Suite.

Change brings challenges. Yet, it also brings opportunities.

The digital revolution has completely altered business, changing nearly every aspect of product and service development delivery and the consumer experience.

Further, while it continues to change human life in dramatic ways— its role in optimizing human health is slower to evolve.

Digital health, a rapidly growing component of the health care field, is presenting great opportunities to innovate the industry. By leveraging data and analytics; smartphones and wearable devices; artificial intelligence, machine learning, and virtual reality, equitable digital health has the potential to help health care organizations better position themselves for long term value.

With investor funding reaching $44 billion in 2021, only to continue increasing, and a projected market value of $660 billion by 2025, digital health will have a significant impact on patient care models, health care delivery, patient engagement, and business operations.

To discuss this topic on a broader platform, I recently moderated an insightful panel at the National Association of Health Services Executives (NAHSE) 37th Annual Educational Conference. The panel was entitled, “Shaping the Future of Digital Health: Key Themes for the C-Suite.”

Here are five takeaways from three esteemed industry panelists:

1. Digital in health care is not just about the high-tech devices and technology, but about using digital as an enabler of strategy to deliver more consumer-centric and culturally competent healthcare. The value proposition for omnichannel consumer interaction is compelling for all sectors in the health value chain as well as for employers offering health care benefits and services to employees.
2. When articulating priorities and formulating enterprise strategies, C-suite and health system leaders must be specific about: (1) the language used when speaking about digital in broad terms and as an enabler, making certain to address the digital divide, inclusiveness, and equity to meet the needs of each individual’s medical journey; (2) designing capabilities that enable individuals to access various parts of health care delivery that make the most sense to them, when they need it, how they need it and the way they want it provided; and (3) understanding and striving to accommodate the technological needs of patients and individuals.
3. Basic infrastructure elements the C-suite should consider when deploying technology include: (1) the ability to integrate across disparate systems with enhanced security features; (2) enabling agility and scalability; (3), utilizing workflow automation to improve operational efficiency; (4) leveraging artificial intelligence and machine learning to drive predictive and adaptive analytics; and (5) offering data interoperability between departments and across all business units.
4. With the legalities surrounding data privacy and confidentiality, first and foremost, it is imperative to uphold industry-wide standards to safeguard health information. Once security is ensured, medical professionals will have more flexibility and comfort sharing the most relevant information pertaining to an individual’s medical journey — and best practices and business models that drive optimized health outcomes.
5. It is of the utmost importance for C-suite and other health system leaders to develop digital health solutions through the lens of equity and intentionality, addressing the digital divide by putting all demographics of human society at the center of those solutions.

For digital health to significantly optimize the trajectory of enterprise growth and organizational performance, digital-first C-suite executives, health system leaders, and other stakeholders must commit to a clear digital vision that is synergistic to the enterprise strategy. Doing so will unlock the overall impact value of digital in health care.

A special thank you to my esteemed panelists Kikelomo (Dayo) Oshunkentan, MD, MPH, MBA, CPHIMS, CHCQM of Pegasystems , Tamarah Duperval-Brownlee, MD, MPH, MBA, FAAFP of Accenture , and Rasu Shrestha MD MBA of Atrium Health , for all of your wisdom and insight.

The views reflected in this article are the views of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Ernst & Young LLP or other members of the global EY organization.