Digital Health: A Stagnant Revolution Despite Ourselves

Digital health was once envisioned as the beacon of enhanced access, convenience, and diminished need for physical travel in medical care. However, the anticipated revolution has yet to manifest in improved care quality, patient satisfaction, or clinician morale.

My path as a digital health entrepreneur, unexpected as it may be, was driven by the desire to restore the fading relationships between primary care pediatricians and their patients through a virtual care solution.

My high hopes were based on my belief that the medical community would unite behind the proven importance of doctor–patient relationships for improved outcomes and reduced costs. Technology was poised to be the catalyst for this healthcare renaissance. Yet, what has transpired is a departure from this ideal — inefficiencies, higher costs, and lesser outcomes increasingly mar our health-care system.

Reflecting on the Commonwealth Fund’s 2013 report, the stark challenges we faced were evident: disproportionate costs failing to equate to quality care, the inefficacy of a fee-for-service model, poorly coordinated care, and exorbitant medical pricing. A decade later, Arthur Kellermann’s 2023 analysis echoes the same concerns, revealing that the US still spends extravagantly on healthcare relative to other developed nations yet lags in outcomes. This continuity of issues underscores that dig-ital health has not been the cure-all it was once thought to be.

Want to read more? Head here: https://doi.org/10.30953/thmt.v9.463

J. Michael Connors, MD | Connors Consulting, Nashville, Tenessee, USA