Digital Health

The next generation of digital health platforms and technology enablers will require changes to technology, care model, operations, and expectations of providers and staff.

Historically, healthcare has been delivered in a provider-centric model, with face-to-face interactions in brick-and-mortar locations to address patient conditions as they present. Successful execution of a digital health strategy integrates technologies to enable and support—not replace—traditional healthcare settings by directing patients to the right types of care at the right time. Whether the appropriate care setting is a hospital, ambulatory center, or the patient’s home, a cohesive digital health platform will drive the delivery of better, more personalized care to more patients. This includes:

• Engaging patients more proactively in their care.
• Delivering care via mobile and telecommunications platforms.
• Assimilating vast sets of data into actionable insights for providers and care decisions for patients.
• Utilizing data and analytics to deliver personalized precision medicine.

Technologies such as patient portals, open scheduling, asynchronous telehealth visits, live video visits, remote patient monitoring, and mobile compliance platforms have become a requirement rather than a luxury. Patient (“consumer”) expectations and the COVID-19 pandemic have made seamlessly integrating virtual visits with in-person consults an essential component of any organization’s care delivery plan. The next generation of digital health platforms and technology enablers, as well as the recent regulatory updates such as the 21st Century Cures Act, will require changes to technology, the care model, operations, and expectations of providers and staff. Ultimately, an effective shift to digital solutions will provide health systems the capabilities to manage data as a strategic asset, empowering data-driven decisions to manage outcomes for individuals and populations.

Our Approach to Digital Health

At ECG, our team helps healthcare organizations deliver flexible, convenient, and high-quality care in a scalable and cost-effective manner that engages and empowers their consumers. Our holistic approach to developing a comprehensive digital health ecosystem includes technology selection and operational planning in the context of evolving regulatory and compliance requirements. This allows clients to enhance workflows, deploy automation, and drive performance efficiency. At the same time, we focus on seamlessly integrating patient-facing tools with back-end platforms (such as EHRs) in the digital health ecosystem. This enables health system organizations to bridge care delivery, connect providers, and extend interactions to patient lives.

Our collaborative approach and experience allows us to help clients understand the options and implications of developing and executing a robust digital health ecosystem that aligns with organizational strategic goals.

ECG’s digital health services include:

• Strategy and program planning.
• System selection and negotiation.
  • System assessment and requirements.
  • Vendor evaluation and selection.
  • Cost-benefit analysis.
  • Contract negotiation.
• Operational redesign.
• Implementation assistance.
• Systems integration (e.g., EHR and digital health solutions).
• Commercialization of start-up digital and consumer health solutions.
  • Product development lifecycle planning.
  • Scaling and deployment.
  • Procurement and distribution planning.
  • Valuation and pricing strategy and development of go-to-market playbooks.