Simplifying Digital Health

What Is Digital Health?

Digital, tele-, e-, virtual...the adjectives and descriptors go on and on. It can be confusing. Combine that with the topic of health care, which is so personal and at times even stressful, and it's easy to appreciate the lack of understanding and ultimately possible resistance to change.

The fact is, these descriptors are used interchangeably, which of course contributes to the confusion. So let's try to clear it up. We'll begin with how a few other reputable sources currently define digital health and its components.

Wikipedia defines digital health as that "which includes digital care programs, technologies with health, healthcare, living, and society to enhance the efficiency of healthcare delivery and to make medicine more personalized and precise. The discipline uses information and communication technologies to facilitate understanding of health problems and challenges faced by people receiving medical treatment...."

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says digital health includes "categories such as mobile health (mHealth), health information technology (IT), wearable devices, telehealth and telemedicine, and personalized medicine."

The FDA goes on to explain that these "categories include mobile medical apps, technology and tools that support the clinical decisions doctors make every day. These technologies use computing platforms, connectivity, software, and sensors for health care and related uses."

At OSF OnCall, we also consider digital health to be this broader and more all-encompassing descriptor:

What's all this other stuff?

So if digital health is the all-encompassing descriptor, what do all these other terms refer to? First let's address the terminology that is more common throughout the marketplace and includes synonyms for digital health.

• Virtual health care is care not delivered in person. This can still be one-on-one, but it is done virtually via live chat, videoconferencing, etc.
• eHealth is defined by Science Direct as the delivery of health care using modern electronic information and communication technologies when health care providers and patients are not directly in contact and their interaction is facilitated through electronic means. In other words, eHealth is another name or term for virtual health care or digital health.
• mHealth is nothing more than having digital health delivered through mobile-based solutions (American Medical Association).

However, there are more formal and specific terms that are components of digital health and have specific definitions. The two most ones common are:

• Telemedicine is defined by American Academy of Family Physicians as the practice of medicine using technology to deliver care at a distance. A physician in one location uses a telecommunications infrastructure to deliver care to a patient at a distant site.
• Telehealth, again defined by the American Academy of Family Physicians, refers broadly to electronic and telecommunications technologies and services used to provide care and services at a distance. This can be long-distance clinical care, patient and professional health-related education, public health and health administration.
• To put it more succinctly, telemedicine refers specifically to remote clinical services, while telehealth is a bit broader and can refer to remote non-clinical services.

WHY DIGITAL HEALTH?

We've established digital health as the all-encompassing term used to leverage technology and tools to deliver health care. What is more important is the benefit it brings. 

We will explore this further in future articles, but in summary, digital health provides significant benefits to health care providers and patients alike.

For Providers

• Ability to provide care that previously may have been prohibitive due to expertise availability, geography or resource limitations.
• Ability to consistently and remotely monitor patients who have chronic illnesses to better manage their care and reduce the cost of care.
• Gain access to complete patient data to stay better informed as well as share with other providers when necessary.

For Patients

• Allows patients greater control of their health care, from when and how they access it, to improved communication and easy access to information they need.
• Provides access to specialized care that may not have been feasible, convenient or accessible previously due to varying factors.
• Allows for the desired personalized care that most patients want and need. Digital health does not take away from the provider-to-patient interaction. In fact, it enhances it.

For Employers

• Improves employee health, wellness and productivity while employees experience more convenient and accessible care choices.
• Helps control overall employer health care costs through more efficient delivery and access. And with broader access comes increased utilization, allowing the employer to influence and better manage employee population health.

Digital health can seem complex and confusing. Fact is, like many things in today's world, it is simply leveraging technology to provide expanded care to more people cost effectively. It's time is now.