The recent proliferation and adoption of digital health technologies is often heralded as a key mechanism in closing the gap when it comes to health disparities. In this episode, Jen and Mindy are joined by special guest DJ O’Connor to discuss equality barriers in digital health and how healthcare leaders can develop more equitable solutions. The pandemic has accelerated the availability and adoption of digital healthcare, socioeconomic disparities prevent vulnerable populations from accessing from these innovations and create a “digital divide” (01:30). Even when access is not an issue, digital healthcare tools may not provide equivalent benefits across users (04:39) and advanced technologies need to be checked for bias (06:31). There are opportunities for improving equity through digital health, both within and beyond the healthcare industry (10:04) – healthcare leaders should be considering the diversity of their user personas and the social disparities that could prevent access when developing new digital solutions (13:25).

Podcast Tags: digital health, telehealth, access, equity, equality, AI, bias, social determinants of health

Source Links:

· https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2021/07/13/digital-health-equity-and-how-to-achieve-it-in-a-post-pandemic-world/?sh=1ffed0dd346d 

· https://www.jmir.org/2020/6/e19361/ 

· https://academic.oup.com/cid/article/72/6/913/5919799 

· https://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/telehealth-use-rises-new-trends-highlight-demographic-divides 

For additional discussion, please contact us at TrendingHealth.com or share a voicemail at 1-888-VYNAMIC.

DJ O’Connor, Manager

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Mindy McGrath, Healthcare Industry Advisor

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Jen Burke, Healthcare Industry Strategist

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