Open the “Digital Front Door” to health care for COVID-19 and beyond

Photo By William Wheeler | Dr. Robert Ciulla discusses the expansion of digital health.  

JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, WA, UNITED STATES

04.28.2020

Courtesy Story

Defense Health Agency

We as military health care providers have the duty to meet patients where they are, which for many right now is at home helping flatten the curve of the COVID-19 pandemic. The mandatory isolation is driving unprecedented demand for new ways to use technology to work, go to school, socialize – and get and deliver health care.

Bottom line: Thanks to COVID-19, home is the new doctor’s office. Increasingly, doctors and therapists are meeting virtually, both in real time through live audio and video and asynchronously through email, texting, websites, mobile and web apps, and other means. People are open to innovation in ways they have never been – or had to be – before. Now is the time to be innovative by incorporating evidence-based health technology tools from trusted sources into care.

These health solutions are safe, convenient and clinically valuable tools. The Defense Health Agency offers many resources for helping you and your patients. For information on how to incorporate virtual and mobile health technology into practice, visit https://info.health.mil/army/VMC and health.mil/connectedhealth.

While patients stay safe with their literal doors shut, we can help patients use their smartphones, tablets, and other devices to open the “Digital Front Door” to the growing virtual health ecosystem.

Essentially, the Digital Front Door means patients can use their devices as mobile at-home digital health suites to access seamlessly connected interactive components and capabilities, which may include:

• Self-service prescription refills and appointment scheduling
• Secure patient-provider communications and sharing of lab results
• Automatic, systematic gathering of patient-generated health data from apps and wearables
• Visual displays and dashboards that help record symptoms and track trends
• 24/7 patient access to and control of health information, with patient data uploaded directly to electronic health records

Learning to access the Digital Front Door and the services behind it does involve a learning curve, both for providers and patients – words we do not want to hear as we’re scrambling to cope with COVID-19 on top of our regular responsibilities.

The digital health ecosystem’s continuous access and interoperability, however, enhance convenience, collaboration, and coordination, directly improving operational efficiency and health outcomes. These capabilities cannot just help improve COVID-19 response. They can also help achieve the Triple Aim of U.S. health care in general (better care, better health, lower cost) as well as the Military Health System Quadruple Aim (Triple Aim + improved readiness).

We also must start thinking about life after the pandemic. It could take at least a year or more to develop a vaccine and globally distribute it. By then, many patients and providers will have embraced digital health care practices so strongly they may not want to return to traditional approaches. Ready or not, we must know the world beyond the Digital Front Door because it’s where our patients will need – and expect – us to be.


Robert Ciulla, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist and the lead for the Clearinghouse at the Defense Health Agency (DHA) Connected Health branch.

• Date Taken: 04.28.2020
• Date Posted: 04.29.2020 10:28
• Story ID: 368719
• Location: JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, WA, US