Digital health inclusion can provide healthcare for all - this is how

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated a digital shift in healthcare delivery that was a long time coming. Thanks to a wave of technologies, the idea of assisting people – no matter their location – became a reality.

The digital connection between clinicians and patients requires new private-public partnerships to facilitate the tech, and new ideas to help those we serve. But the pandemic also revealed the gap between those who could access connected care, and those who could not.

In response to a new kind of digital health inequity, Apollo Hospitals and Jefferson Health launched initiatives to bridge gaps and ensure that technology is applied to counter health disparities rather than exacerbate them.

The pandemic made clear that broadband access is now a ‘social determinant of health’. Without meaningful access to broadband, individuals are excluded from the advances of connected care. For many, this means a lack of access to clinical care itself.

We urgently need to place human beings at the centre of the rapidly growing digital health business. Estimates show that as much as $1.5 trillion is being invested globally by private equity and venture capital into a massive array of new products and services. As healthcare providers, we believe that we have a responsibility to ensure all individuals can benefit from this mode of keeping people healthy and aiding them when they are sick.

We understand the potential impact of digital healthcare delivery, so together with the EDISON Alliance, we developed a series of principles that could guide equity and inclusion in digitalized healthcare.

The Shared Guiding Principles for Digital Health Inclusion are intended as a series of questions that partners can ask themselves as they design digital health products and services. They are based on our belief that the heart of ethics is to ask the tough questions first, at an early stage in product or partnership development.

The guiding principles prompt healthcare partners to ask themselves:

In India, there isn’t enough money to build a traditional hospital-based system of care for everyone. In the United States, the traditional hospital based system is failing to bridge the gaps of health disparities. For both countries, the future depends on a platform for healthcare at any address. At Apollo Hospitals and Jefferson Health, we agreed that we needed to shift the locus of primary care and prevention to the home, and that the technological tools are now available to accomplish this.

Together, we have worked hard on two issues that will frame the future of digital health: access and adoption. The first issue, access, is very clear for the half of the world’s population that does not have access to broadband connectivity. The second issue, adoption, is an issue that centres around trust – how we ensure responsible, sustainable services that build trust and therefore adoption.

In India, Apollo Hospitals has launched a unique personalized proactive health management programme specially designed to help predict risk, prevent premature health events, and overcome chronic lifestyle diseases. The 3-year healthcare management programme has been created based on 22 million health checks, building on Apollo's pioneering efforts in preventive care for over 37 years. This plan is primary care based, and able to mitigate emergency care and provide assistance for those who are immobile.

In Philadelphia, Jefferson Health has launched its Centre for Connected Care to be a leader in research studies around the barriers to connected care. The centre will host the first US ‘consensus conference’ for research in telehealth in 2022. Already, the centre has found that while language and income are barriers against the adoption of digital health services, the greatest barrier remains trust.

At the onset of COVID-19, Apollo Hospitals Group launched its digital platform – Apollo 24/7 – to empower people at home to take charge of their health. Built with the core belief that ‘expertise is for everyone’, the platform provided round the clock access to all its 7,500 plus doctors from over 50 specialties spread across the entire country to make quality healthcare accessible to everyone.

Connected care offers tremendous opportunities to the communities we serve. It can bring assistance to the unserved and underserved. It can help individuals age successfully at home. It can develop models of prevention based on monitoring of pre disease markers.

Most importantly, shifting the locus of healthcare to the home democratizes healthcare. It forces the healthcare system to account for family dynamics and social resources. And it gives people the opportunity to thrive and be happy without healthcare delivery getting in the way.

Many public-private partnerships and businesses will develop because of the digital tools of connected care. We urge that this transformation remain responsible, equitable, and inclusive.