Insights

Shaping the new era of patient power and digital trust

Shaping a new era of patient power and digital trust requires technology and a collaborative healthcare ecosystem. It requires, too, that technology scale reach and grow in underserved markets. It means modernizing our tech infrastructure, understanding our communities, and building trust in digital tools.

Data, we know, is at the core of this era. We need to know more about the communities we serve, and we must earn their trust to care for the data they share. The healthcare ecosystem is the key to making it work.

Statistics related to healthcare data are astounding. Eighty percent of clinical outcomes are influenced by factors outside of traditional medical care, like social determinants of health. Alongside that, 9 out of 10 people struggle with basic health literacy.

Healthcare technology is transformative. We’ve slowly moved from an analog system to a digital world for patients and providers, and we shouldn’t underestimate how far we’ve come. In the next steps of our digital transformation, however, companies must be deeply rooted in their commitments to learning from their communities, investing in those who provide care, modernizing their tech infrastructure, enhancing the healthcare ecosystem, and building trust in digital tools.

In this blog, we examine what’s working and take a look at how a strong healthcare ecosystem and effective data collection and sharing will help shape the new era of patient power and digital trust.

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What’s going well

When the healthcare system works, individuals are informed about their health and the tools available; they understand their journey and have the health literacy to connect all the pieces. It’s one followed by an individual who is informed about their health and the tools available, who understands their journey, and has the health literacy to connect all the pieces.

It’s essential to acknowledge that significant progress has been made in healthcare technology, yet it’s equally important to recognize that there’s still more to be done. Areas where technology has been leveraged to help include:

• Telehealth has become a more stable component of the healthcare space since 2020.
• Digital healthcare apps put information directly in the hands of those who need it, empowering patients to become more actively involved in their care.
• Artificial intelligence (AI) has begun automating administrative tasks, enabling more patient-centered care.

We’ve accomplished a great deal, and there’s still a great deal more to do.

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Complex healthcare ecosystem

Sharing data among a diverse set of stakeholders—healthcare providers, payers, technology partners, and patients or members—is the best way to personalize care and address the needs of a diverse community. The collaborative framework these stakeholders make up is known as the healthcare ecosystem, and it’s the key to the digital revolution we’re seeing in healthcare.

Working together in this healthcare ecosystem enables better data sharing and improved coordination in working toward the common goal. Interoperability, patient-centricity, data-driven insights, and collaboration are the heartbeats of the ecosystem.

Moving away from a fragmented system that bogs down care will lead to a more patient-centric model. Leveraging the power of a healthcare ecosystem is critical in this new era of patient power and digital trust.

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Data is at the core

Fundamentally, we need to be better about data, from its collection to eliminating the systemic bias in what we collect. We must strike a balance between the data we bring to the table and the democratization of that data, along with the safety and controls that are associated with it. The idea is to collect and share enough data to serve communities usefully while also ensuring that the digital tools used to collect and share it are keeping their information safe.

Key to improving our data collection is participation: we need people to share their data. Empowering patients to take more control over their health data means improving their health literacy and enabling them to participate in their healthcare.

Advancing our data collection and analytics means:

• AI advancements: utilizing AI to analyze data, predict outcomes, personalize treatment plans, and improve the patient experience.
• Addressing disparities: Data can help close gaps in care caused by a lack of social determinants of health.
• Building digital trust: regulatory and industry standards for the seamless collection and exchange of data that allows patients/members to trust the ecosystem with their data.

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Understanding the community

When we have the data to understand communities better, we can drastically improve patient care. Currently, we ignore too many social determinants of health.

For example, we need to close the loop with ER follow-up care; for some ethnicities, that never happens. The factors contributing to this vary, and truly knowing why will help us work with these communities to improve medical outcomes.

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What’s next?

In this era of digital transformation, it’s essential to acknowledge the progress we’ve made and equally important to maintain a clear vision of how the healthcare ecosystem can shape the future. This new era will be shaped by empowering patients to take control of their health data and by health ecosystems improving how they work with the data, learning about their communities, and instilling trust in digital transformation.

PODCAST: Shaping the new era of patient power and digital trust

FIRESIDE CHAT: Bridging the care gap: How digital innovation is advancing health equity