CES: How Digital Innovation Is Shaping the Future of Health Care

Earlier this week, I had the opportunity to speak at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas where I discussed how digital innovation is shifting the health care paradigm and creating a more personalized, data-driven approach to patient care. 

It’s no secret that almost every aspect of U.S. health care is undergoing a fundamental shift, especially due to the emergence of new technologies. Some major advances have include: 

• Electronic Medical Records that digitize visits with physicians and hospitals are allowing for the analysis of patient data to improve individual care and population health. 
• Telehealth capabilities that offer remote video access to doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and health coaches are making access to care more convenient and more affordable, especially for those without primary care physicians or for those living in areas where specialist care has been unavailable. 
• Wireless devices and apps that allow for real-time and remote monitoring of patients with chronic diseases including diabetes, asthma, and depression are making possible just-in-time interventions that prevent complications and save lives. 
• AI software that can evaluate vast amounts of data, automatically, and has the potential to improve health and safety by improving the speed and accuracy of diagnoses and treatment recommendations and preventing medical errors. 

What this means is that we have an extraordinary opportunity to innovate to transform health care, to make health care simpler, more affordable, and more predictable for our customers and our clients. 

Innovation is the art and science of developing a new product, solution or delivery method in a way that adds value or addresses a problem. And, in health care, innovators have responded to market needs, accordingly, with more than 300,000 digital products available today. Most are unsupported by evidence of safety, effectiveness, and value. Figuring out which, if any, solution might be appropriate for patients with a specific condition can be overwhelming, which is why we created the Digital Health Formulary.

Our industry-first formulary for digital and mobile health apps and devices allows participating health plans and employers to increase patients’ access to emerging products and technologies simply and affordably. Customers and clients can also be confident that these new tools have been reviewed by experts for safety and potential effectiveness, a user-friendly experience, and worthiness of the investment.

As of today, there are 15 solutions included on the Digital Health Formulary that aid in the management of eight of the country’s most common chronic conditions: diabetes, prediabetes, hypertension, asthma, pulmonary disease, depression, anxiety, and insomnia. We’re excited to continue evaluating digital solutions to help patients with serious illnesses to take better control of their health, improve their quality of life, and lower their total costs.

The Digital Health Formulary is just one example of how we are putting the patient at the center of everything that we do, especially when it comes to addressing access and affordability at scale. We are promoting health, rather than simply treating sickness, and digital solutions, particularly ones that have been vetted to ensure healthier outcomes, are one of the best ways to do this.

Through continued innovation and use of digital therapeutics including remote monitoring solutions for chronic disease, some on display at CES, we’re confident that the health care system we envision for the future - a system in which health care is simple, affordable, and predictable – will become the health care system of today.

View a recording of my conversation at CES here.