The era of connected health is upon us. Digital products, services, and interventions promise to create a more efficient, equitable, and patient-centered healthcare system. This transformation can shift us from the reactive “sick care” model to a proactive, whole-person approach—an evolution that is both critical and urgent. As health systems across the globe confront aging populations, clinician shortages, rising healthcare costs, and widening health disparities, the need for connected health solutions has never been clearer.
With billions on the table – to be invested, saved, and shifted – we find ourselves at a crossroads. An optimally integrated technology can seamlessly empower patients, reduce disease burden, and improve overall well-being. A misaligned application can lead to fragmented care and inefficiencies, further exacerbating underlying health disparities. Thus the promise of digital health relies on key stakeholders working in concert to create, scale, and expand a connected health ecosystem that puts patients and providers at the center.
The Connected Health Collaborative Community (CHcc) by the Digital Medicine Society (DiMe), co-hosted by the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) and with Impact Partner UMass Chan Medical School’s Program in Digital Medicine, will unite patients and their care partners, regulators, payors, health systems, technology and infrastructure providers, medical device companies, and other key players. Together, we will address the challenges and opportunities in harnessing the full potential of connected health.
- Creating a care continuum with connected health
What does "connected health" truly entail? It means more than just apps and gadgets. Connected health envisions a future where healthcare transcends the walls of hospitals and clinics, supporting all individuals throughout their health journey– from health maintenance to acute interventions. This means reliably and seamlessly leveraging virtual care, remote patient monitoring, and other digital interventions to access high-quality care wherever patients are—at home, at work, or on the go.
This model empowers individuals to take a more active role in their health while easing the strain on overburdened healthcare facilities. By fostering continuous, data-driven interactions between patients and their care teams, connected health models will help detect and address health issues early, often before they require costly interventions. And, when higher acuity health events occur, the tech stack supporting a connected health model must be adaptable and ready to provide fit-for-purpose solutions across different use cases.
While the individual technology components needed to support this vision exist today, best practices for harmonizing and implementing connected health models are still evolving. Moreover, as with all new approaches to health care, expectations and support around safety, equity, outcomes, and reimbursement must be established for the model to thrive and demonstrate tangible ROI. Without alignment across stakeholders, we drive towards different targets, confusing the market, patients, and regulators alike.
- Scaling existing models with new technologies
The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the adoption of acute hospital care at home (AHCAH) programs through temporary waivers, allowing hospitals to deliver inpatient-level care within patients' homes and providing a pathway for reimbursement and setting the stage for broader adoption of home-based care supported by advancing technology.
Now is the time we capture the momentum of the hospital-at-home (HaH) model, which has roots dating back decades, to fundamentally transform how healthcare is delivered as hospitals face increasing pressure to do more with less. By leveraging a fit-for-purpose tech stack of connected health technologies – including remote monitoring, virtual care, and artificial intelligence – hospital-level care at home can deliver high-quality, patient-centric, and cost-effective solutions at a scale otherwise not achievable or sustainable.
With the potential five-year extension of the AHCAH program, we have a window of reimbursement certainty to scale HaH programs leveraging connected health technologies harmonized and optimized, enabling already successful programs to rapidly prove outcomes and returns.
The first project launched under the Connected Health Collaborative Community by DiMe will focus on Advancing a Sustainable Hospital-at-Home Ecosystem at Scale, laying the groundwork for sustained investment to accelerate and optimize the use of connected health in acute care at home programs.
- Expanding to achieve equity, ROI, and outcomes
Optimizing the HaH tech stack is key to demonstrating the unit economics to drive further investment into the infrastructure, technologies, and operations required to scale. This, in turn, supports (re)investment in other home-based models – including Skilled Nursing at Home, Aging in Place, and Peripartum care at home, among others. Establishing consensus on how to fully define, articulate, and quantify the return of value associated with successful at-home programs is necessary for the sustained and expanded adoption of connected health care models.
As we look to the future, the vision of connected health is one of empowerment—empowering patients to take control of their health, empowering providers to deliver more personalized, efficient care, and empowering healthcare systems to meet the evolving demands of a complex ecosystem. But realizing this vision will require continued collaboration, innovation, and a shared commitment to health equity.
The CHcc and projects like the hospital-at-home initiative are lighting the path forward, showing us that a more connected, patient-centered healthcare system is within reach.
The future of healthcare is connected. Let’s make sure that the future is one where everyone benefits.
Gabrielle Goldblatt is the partnerships lead at the Digital Medicine Society.
Apruv Soni, M.D., Ph.D., is an assistant professor of medicine and director of the Program in Digital Health at the UMass Chan Medical School.
