Digital health programs like telehealth have already made progress in fields like mental health by expanding access and lowering costs, but there are opportunities to achieve much more in the future, according to Susan Dentzer, president and CEO of The Network for Excellence in Health Innovation.
Digital health programs like telehealth have already made progress in fields like mental health by expanding access and lowering costs, but there are opportunities to achieve much more in the future, according to Susan Dentzer, president and CEO of The Network for Excellence in Health Innovation.
Transcript (slightly modified)
Is digital health making progress on improving access and quality of care?
On access, I think, indisputably. On as big a scale as we will ultimately, who knows? But we know now with the provision of, say, telehealth, if you’re going to call that part of digital medicine which I do. Nobody wrote the ultimate definition of digital medicine, so we have to assume that it essentially means communicating on technology platforms that are digitally based. So if that’s the definition of digital medicine, what we’re seeing now is an expansion of who is able to access the system through virtual visits and other things. We see exciting things going on now with respect to mental and behavioral health in particular. We have telepsychiatry cropping up and extending the reach of the relatively small coterie of mental health providers who are psychiatrists. So clearly we’re expanding access.
It looks like we’re going to be able to save costs, save money, as we move people out of the going to the emergency department on a weekend because they can’t get to a provider. Has that been accomplished to its maximum degree nationally? No way, we have a long way to go. But I think we see if not delivery on the promises, more and more proof of concept that through digital medicine, we have the opportunity to provide truly better health and better healthcare at lower cost. Now we’ve got to seize that full opportunity.
Wearable Activity Tracker Data Enhance Patient Assessment in Lung Cancer
March 28th 2024This analysis included 119 patients with advanced lung cancer, who were evaluated on 3 facets of physical activity over 14 days of using the amuelink wearable device from Sony: metabolic equivalent tasks, distance walked, and steps taken.
Read More
Exploring Medicare Advantage Prior Authorization Variations
March 26th 2024On this episode of Managed Care Cast, we're talking with the authors of a study published in the March 2024 issue of The American Journal of Managed Care® about their findings on variations in prior authorization use across Medicare Advantage plans.
Listen
The Supreme Court seems likely to reject a challenge to the abortion pill mifepristone; the FDA is inspecting far fewer pharmaceutical companies conducting clinical research; AstraZeneca has sued to block an Arkansas law that it said would unlawfully expand the 340B program to include for profit-pharmacy chains.
Read More
What We’re Reading: HHS' Funding Flat; Mifepristone Safety; Insulin Shortage
March 25th 2024Flat funding for HHS leaves critical health initiatives stagnant; Supreme Court weighs tightening regulations on abortion pill; manufacturing delay sparks access concerns for insulin medication.
Read More
Increasing Lp(a) Awareness for Better Cardiovascular Health: Dr Mary McGowan
March 24th 2024For Lp(a) Awareness Day, Mary McGowan, MD, FNLA, chief medical officer of the Family Heart Foundation, highlights how most people with elevated Lp(a) are completely unaware that they have this increased risk and calls for increased testing.
Read More