Addressing Digital Disparities as a Part of Digital Transformation

Health Tech Magazines October 16, 2023October 16, 2023

By Deepti Pandita, CMIO, UCI Health

A key priority and strategy of healthcare systems is to embark on digital transformation. This typically involves adopting various technologies and strategies to revolutionize the way healthcare services are delivered and managed and open the “digital front door”. Addressing digital disparities is crucial when creating a digital transformation roadmap. Digital disparities can lead to unequal access to technology, information, and opportunities. There might be existing disparities among different patient populations based on geography, socioeconomic status, age, ability and other social determinants of health (SDOH). When looking at the framework of digital transformation, organizations need to keep digital literacy and digital equity at the forefront. Otherwise, the transformation might lead to widening the digital disparity gap. If organizations plan this well and account for digital disparities, they can improve digital equity. So how can a system ensure they are approaching transformation from the right lens? Here are a few strategies:

Stake Holder Analysis: Identify the groups impacted by your digital transformation and understand their needs, capabilities, and limitations. Use this analysis to ensure your roadmap includes initiatives that cater to everyone’s needs, not just those who are already digitally savvy. I had early learning on this when setting up telemedicine. We enabled a telemedicine platform and would send a message to patients with instructions to log in-we discovered that non-English speakers were engaging less with the platform. Once we engaged these non-English speaking populations, the root cause was the platform that was sending messages in english on how to launch the visit, which of course, drove this engagement. As soon as we translated the message into the patient’s preferred language, the engagement went up substantially. Involving underrepresented communities in the decision-making for digital solutions and getting their insights and perspectives builds trust in the solutions and helps address the unique challenges and needs of these populations.

Accessibility: Ensure the technology you choose is accessible to everyone. That means considering factors like user interface design and the design being culturally appropriate, availability in multiple languages, compatibility with assistive technologies, etc. The roadmap should include plans to test and enhance accessibility throughout the digital transformation process. Engagement of the patient and provider in testing accessibility features is key to success.

Digital Literacy Training: Not everyone will have the same level of comfort or skill with digital technologies. Part of the transformation roadmap should include digital literacy training initiatives to ensure everyone can fully participate in the transformed environment. Using principles of user-centered design, engaging the end-user in learning their training needs as well as what form of training delivery they prefer is key to success. It is never good to assume that all end-users will learn uniformly and be prepared to offer a variety of training modalities.

Affordability: One size does not fit all when it comes to technology. An organization should never assume that just because they “enabled” a digital solution means that it would lead to universal “adoption”. Patients have concerns about the cost of devices, internet access, the subscription fee for services, insurance coverage, etc. Organizations should work to identify ways to offer low or no-cost options for those who cannot afford these solutions and have readiness to aid those who struggle in order to have equitable usage and access.

Infrastructure: Infrastructure issues can be a significant barrier to digital participation. This is particularly true in rural or economically disadvantaged areas. Digital transformation roadmap should include strategies for addressing these infrastructure challenges, perhaps in partnership with other organizations or government entities.

Feedback Mechanism: Any digital transformation roadmap should be flexible enough to adjust based on the feedback received. This will help ensure that the transformation is truly serving everyone’s needs. Remember that addressing digital disparities is not a one-time event, but an ongoing process. As technologies evolve, new disparities can emerge, so your strategies to address them need to be dynamic and adaptable.

Data-Driven Insights: One cannot emphasize this enough. Any data informing you of your patient populations and the solutions you are either intending to implement or studying impact/outcomes should be parsed out with a DI lens. In my work, I take this a step further where I break down initiatives by SVI (Social Vulnerability index) as it gives me insights in terms of geographical gaps in access to care where digital care delivery can be most impactful but also allows you to tailor the care in ways that are unique to that patient population.

Inclusion in decision-making: Organizations should make digital inclusion a priority. This is especially important for IT and procurement areas which are often the front end of implementing digital solutions.

One size does not fit all when it comes to technology. An organization should never assume that just because they “enabled” a digital solution means that it would lead to universal “adoption”.

By incorporating these strategies into digital transformation initiatives, organizations and government and non-government agencies can work towards creating a more inclusive and equitable digital society. The goal should always be to leverage the power of digital technologies to uplift underserved communities and bridge the digital divide.