Digital health has the potential to eliminate billions of dollars in costs from the health care ecosystem, drive care delivery transformation and create new and engaging experiences for patients and providers alike. However, these wins will never happen if a digital health strategy simply means plugging in a new technology to serve a limited function. Technology cannot be designed only to meet the needs of specific stakeholders, whether they be clinicians or patients.

A successful strategy for digital health demands that a health care organization has a core foundation built on everything from electronic health records and practice management to wearable devices and AI, all built on a lean, continuously improving architecture that liberates everyone on the health care journey. While this outcome may sound lofty, it is achievable. Following these four principles can help make it a reality.

Rule No. 1: Don’t Just Empower Doctors; Empower Everyone Around Them

A 2017 study found that utilizing non-physician providers (NPPs), such as nurse practitioners and physician assistants, is now a key driver of productivity and profitability in medical groups. Beyond revenue and process improvements, NPPs liberate physicians to focus on unique and critical cases that require their intuition and expertise. That is why applications should not focus singularly on physicians but should enable NPPs to produce better clinical results at a lower cost.

Rule No. 2: Design And Build For Everyone Else Connected To The Health Care Ecosystem

A survey of 400 physicians found that 88% do not feel that they have enough time to deliver on authentic patient engagement, while 81% claimed they have difficulty focusing fully on providing patients with the best possible treatments to meet their complex needs. New technology should always apply design thinking to address these challenges from the earliest stages of its development. This means that it should be designed at its core to empower and engage every participant in the health care community with a seamless care experience.

What can this type of approach accomplish? Think of applications such as wearable devices that connect with the patient record and update key health data in real time. A comprehensive report can be accessed anywhere by a clinician, and both clinician and patient can collaborate through their mobile devices on the best care path forward. If the applications are intuitive to use, exponentially higher levels of engagement and a natural progression toward better outcomes can follow.

Rule No. 3: Align Your Culture To Think Holistically