Nick Patel: With digital health we are getting out of the mindset that care can be rendered only in the office

In this episode, Dr. Nick Patel, Chief Digital Officer of Prisma Health discusses his role and how the pandemic has transformed the healthcare industry with emerging technologies like online scheduling, virtual visits, chatbots, remote patient monitoring, and AI. Since March 2020, Prisma health has completed 360,000 virtual visits. Nick says that implementing digital health will eliminate the mindset that care can be provided only in an office setting. He believes that introducing automation in healthcare processes and digital front doors is important to improve care delivery. In the post-COVID-19 world, around 20 to 30 percent of all ambulatory visits will convert to virtual visits. However, social determinants of health also need to be considered such as lack of broadband access and technology challenges in older and high-risk patients. Patients today expect a retail experience from healthcare throughout their journey. Nick advises health systems to prioritize on solving the problems and focus on patient needs rather than starting with technology. Healthcare technologies must be an interconnected ecosystem that is efficient, intuitive, and can take advantage of automation driven by data.