Techonomy: The time to prioritize digital health equity is now
Telehealth use skyrocketed during the COVID-19 pandemic, filling a critical access gap for millions of Americans. While in-person visits have since rebounded, virtual care has moved decisively from the sidelines to the mainstream where its role will only continue to expand. But over the past year, communities with higher poverty rates saw significantly lower telehealth use than others, and rural areas saw lower use than urban areas.
Recent conversations with colleagues across the industry reveal a common sense of urgency around the need to double-down on digital health equity, ensuring that the convenience, cost, and health benefits of digital health accrue equally to all.
“The fact is most digital health solutions were built for higher income people and the commercial market. Digital literacy begins with actually engaging patients in their language of preference.”
SameSky Health is helping to bridge these language and cultural gaps through multi-channel communication and engagement in Cantonese, Mandarin, Arabic, Farsi and many other languages.
Meeting everyone where they are means interacting on their terms and in the most accessible and convenient modes for them. For most people these days, especially in lower-income and multicultural communities, this is via text, says Mason. And yet, federal regulations still make it very difficult to easily and securely interact with patients and members via text, an issue he is focused heavily on.
Click here for the full Techonomy article.
Share this post:
Tags: