Underserved communities face worse health outcomes on average than white patients because they have a harder time accessing high-quality health care. These health disparities are highly entrenched, but they are not impossible to fix. -BY MALIBU KOTHARI

The key to fixing this difficult challenge in the healthcare industry is by utilizing a combination of innovative technology that can customize treatments based on individual lifestyles and challenges, along with good data and clinical practice. This will enable the best possible health care available to each person and his or her unique health and life challenges and enable him or her to receive the best possible care to live the best life possible.

INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGY CAN HELP US TO ACHIEVE HEALTH EQUITY IF USED PROPERLY

Innovative technology can help to achieve health equity in our healthcare systems by enabling underserved and marginalized communities the ability to receive the healthcare they need that they could not receive in the past. However, we have to ensure that it does; it is also possible for innovative technology to only widen the digital divide between those who have technology (smartphones, Internet access, and similar innovations) and those who do not.

There are many facets of our society that must work in tandem to ensure that those underserved communities actually receive the healthcare they need utilizing the advancing technology we are developing. These facets include policymakers who drive social change and physicians and hospital systems finding workable solutions for their patients.

Various healthcare leaders were asked how every human can receive equal healthcare and realize the full health potential of every human. It was mentioned that the healthcare industry really needs to focus on making health equity a priority by actually taking steps toward it, not just postulating ideas in governmental buildings. Resources, time, and funding need to be allocated toward this equity, then actions need to be taken in order to eventually achieve this equity for all.

It was also stated that no one technology will change the healthcare system to where all humans receive equivalent healthcare that they need. Instead, a combination of collaboration, innovation, process, and human-centered design technology is key to bringing more equitable healthcare outcomes to all people.

One other technology that has the potential to bring about health equity if used properly, but could expand the current divide if not used properly is artificial intelligence (AI). If models that exacerbate biases are used with AI, the technology could cause a further divide between those who receive the healthcare they need versus the ones who do not.

STEPS TO TAKE FOR US TO ACHIEVE HEALTH EQUITY

Regarding artificial intelligence, collaboration is key among all important decision makers and stakeholders. Thus, information and technology developers and experts, along with patients, medical personnel, and hospital systems, must work together to determine all forms of biases within the current system, then develop and utilize data that eliminate those biases so that the AI systems that are used to help administer future health care is as unbiased as possible so all humans get the optimal healthcare they need.

It is important for all stakeholders to be on the same page to ensure that technology like AI helps to bring about health equity, not make it more unachievable. Thus, members of both the private and public sectors involving clinicians, healthcare systems, government agencies, market suppliers, public safety, faith-based and community organizations, education, transportation, and other societal sectors must be present and have their voices and opinions heard and factored into any decisions that are made. This is really the only viable way to help ensure that all communities, particularly those that are underserved and marginalized, receive equitable healthcare.

Working together will provide more viewpoints, a broader perspective, and help ensure that the entire healthcare system is improved upon so that all humans receive optimal healthcare. There are several groups within our society today that can benefit from digital health innovations, yet are not receiving the full benefits of these innovations. One such group is underserved communities; most of these people have mobile devices that they use to access the Internet, bank online, complete job applications, text family and friends, browse and use social media, and hail a rideshare. Thus, they have the technology necessary to utilize digital health innovations such as heart rate monitors, blood sugar monitors, and blood pressure cuffs, yet are not currently benefiting from these innovations as they can and should be. Better utilization could lead to better access to healthcare, decreased healthcare costs, and improved wellness and health for all. This not only includes underserved communities within countries such as Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom, but even in countries that do not have as much access to the digital health innovations of today like various countries in Africa like Ghana.

Another group that can benefit from digital health innovations is the elderly. In many developed countries around the world, there is a growing number of elderly (mostly the Baby Boomers generation who were born in the latter years of World War II and in the few years after the war ended). Due to their advanced age, they require more medical care. Add in the shortage of doctors entering the medical field in many countries around the world, and the advantages of health monitoring via apps and telehealth doctor-patient calls can help to provide needed medical care to this group.

Referring again to artificial intelligence, AI can also help to make up for the aforementioned shortage of doctors. AI is helping to improve workflow, speed up diagnoses, and enabling medical devices to become more intelligent and take on more functions that at one time could only be performed by medical staff, and in some instances, only by doctors. The usage of AI is allowing the available doctors to maximize their time to only be physically present for circumstances where only they can do them (such as surgeries), while still enabling them to help more patients through apps, telehealth technology, and other innovations.

The development of 5G Internet is also making an impact on the digital health landscape and adding to the possibility of health equity for all. That is because 5G Internet is enabling more high-speed Internet to reach rural areas, including in countries like Canada and the United States, as well as in more rural countries of the world such as Africa and Asia. This has also aided in the proliferation of Internet access around the world; even in poorer countries, they often have access to mobile phones that can access the Internet. This is why apps that can monitor various health conditions such as blood pressure and heart rhythms are being considered as a significant step toward health equity for all, particularly since people in low-wage countries can have access to high-cost digital health services for a fraction of the cost through the power of mobile apps.

One area that is being looked upon to further bring about health equity for all is mobile payment systems so that people in poorer countries can pay for these digital health services. There is even discussion of creating healthcare accounts with these users on their mobile phones that can automate payment for all healthcare they access and receive. Again, this enables underserved people who would have never been able to have access to these high-value healthcare services in the past to be able to have access to and benefit from them now. Already, 40 to 50 percent of the payments for goods and services in Kenya are cashless via mobile apps, so extending this out for healthcare services would seem to be a logical next step, as well as increase the achievability of health equity throughout the world.