INTRODUCTION -

Digital health—the intersection of health care related software applications, analytical tools, medical device technology and electronic data assets that are enabled and achieved through the use of the internet and hand-held devices—is having a profound effect on all facets of the health care delivery and payment system. Digital health is changing the provider-patient relationship by improving the ways in which providers deliver (and patients access) care, overall care quality, individual patient outcomes and satisfaction, and population health. At the same time, it is empowering the innovation needed to meet the imperative for a transition from payment based on volume to payment based on value that is evaluated in terms of measurable improvements in care delivery and population health. The rise in both the supply and demand for technology solutions that present the potential for accelerating this transformation is exponential.

EXAMPLES OF DIGITAL HEALTH AT WORK IN ALTERNATIVE PAYMENT SCHEMES -

Digital health tools are being used in countless ways by physicians, hospitals and other health care providers to deliver higher quality, lower cost care. Prominent among the many examples of this rapidly growing trend is the use of digital health tools by accountable care organizations (ACOs) participating in the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP)—the inaugural Medicare program health reform initiative. Under the MSSP, ACOs receive incentive rewards if they are able to improve the quality of care provided to Medicare beneficiaries, and decrease or control health care costs.