A Peterson Health Technology Institute (PHTI) report found that many digital diabetes management platforms don’t deliver a meaningful ROI for patients or the health system as a whole. Typical technology users see only modest, incremental clinical benefits, such as a 0.23% to 0.60% percentage point reduction in HbA1c compared to traditional care. Meanwhile, some health plans and employers actually experience increased overall costs, as spending on these platforms often outweighs the savings from improved clinical outcomes.
This is the news no one wanted to hear, especially given the huge amounts of health insurance invested in digital health platforms during the COVID-19 pandemic. We have learned great lessons in quickly implementing and adapting digital health solutions during the pandemic, and we can leverage these lessons to drive further innovation in the new normal.
Why has this unfortunate disconnect occurred? Timing is everything when trying to change the status quo, and the pandemic struck at a critical juncture in the maturity curve of the digital health environment. Many of these platforms were on the right track using virtual innovations to mitigate the fragmentation and frustration of the in-person patient experience, but the sudden urgency to move everything fully online to meet basic care needs pushed some of these issues to the back burner. As a result, some platforms are struggling to undo and address gaps that were unintentionally built into their current models.
But now, as the urgency of the COVID era fades, it’s time to regroup: Digital health innovators—and the providers and health plans they serve—should use this opportunity to think about solving fundamental pain points in the patient experience, regardless of channel, and determine how to strategically apply digital tools to further improve the organic, foundational relationships that underpin all health care.
Thinking in terms of human relationships
While consumer advocacy is built into healthcare, some believe it is not “their job” to take a leading role in consumers’ health and wellness, but rather the job of providers and health plans. To make matters worse, many healthcare stakeholders do not realize that just because there is this “captive” consumer population, it does not mean they are entitled, educated, and empowered to own and lead their health journey. Digital health innovators cannot assume that checking off to-do tasks on an app is the optimal indicator of adherence, or that regularly ordering medications and supplies means consumers fully understand how to use them to manage their health.
When digital care platforms rely too heavily on this transactional approach as a proxy for engagement, they miss the essence of living with a chronic illness. Patients can feel overwhelmed and less willing to talk about their self-care. They may also struggle to ask for help without support and encouragement from their care team. Instead, virtual health tools need to be a clear, direct pathway for relationship building, coaching and support, and personalized and adaptable enough to meet consumers where they are in their individual health journey.
This is a major shift from traditional ways of thinking about chronic disease management, and health plans will need to embrace a combination of digital tools and person-to-person outreach that prioritizes education and frequent check-ins to ensure ongoing adherence to key diabetes care tasks.
Cultivate a more holistic view of consumers as patients
To build strong relationships and keep consumers on treatment longer, digital health innovators must collaborate with peers across the care continuum to collect key data points such as clinical history, interactions with providers, health insurance coverage, supply reorder history, care management activities, and socioeconomic vulnerabilities based on geographic location and other factors.
Many outreach staff are already using these data points to better understand why people are struggling with their care plans and how to best support them back to adherence. As their analytics capabilities mature, providers and health plans will be able to use predictive analytics to not only identify individuals who are likely to experience problems in the near future, but more importantly, to pursue proactive, meaningful, personalized interventions delivered in the right way and at the right time.
This level of responsiveness is key to helping people overcome complex barriers to care, including the millions of people living with diabetes who also face socioeconomic challenges that limit their access to the resources they need to stay healthy.
Leverage trusted touchpoints to reduce friction
As we’ve seen during the COVID pandemic, a one-to-one switch from in-person to digital care is not effective at solving the fragmentation, duplication, and friction inherent in the healthcare experience. Instead, digital tools need to be integrated into the patient experience in an organic and seamless way, leveraging and enhancing existing touchpoints that consumers already know and trust.
Finding these organic touchpoints is a major blind spot for healthcare leaders across many care disciplines, and there are likely hundreds of untapped opportunities still to positively impact behavior through creative adaptations of existing connections between patients, providers, payers, and manufacturers.
In the chronic disease space, extended care team providers who have frequent and trusted interactions with patients, such as medical supply companies, can add value to existing touchpoints while reducing friction, thereby achieving relationship-building goals and simplifying the diabetes management experience.
Digital diabetes platforms need to rebalance their approach to care and consider a best-practice approach to supporting consumers holistically — one that doesn’t just throw more technology at the consumer, but one that focuses on strengthening the human connection and building a trusted, integrated ecosystem between the consumer and their extended care team. By adopting this approach and connecting the entire healthcare ecosystem more closely, the healthcare industry — and the digital health innovators driving much-needed change — can mature faster, deliver the tangible value needed to accelerate adoption, and create a framework for improving other pain points across healthcare to drive optimal experiences and outcomes.
About Tony Vahedian
Chief Executive Officer Tony Vahedian’s vision for a technology-enabled future of healthcare drives progress across CCS, a leading provider of clinical programs and home medical supplies for people living with diabetes and other chronic conditions. Tony has successfully managed healthcare organizations for over 20 years, driving accelerated growth and expanding market share throughout his career. Today, Tony leverages his expertise in integrated healthcare services and technology innovation to drive the growth of CCS while improving the lives of people living with chronic conditions.
