While financial pressures were the leading barrier to adoption cited by nearly half, most stated they have implemented digital health
Xealth, the leader in enabling digital health at scale, today announced recent survey findings that examine the digital health experiences and attitudes of healthcare executives. The online survey of College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) members was conducted between May 15 and June 20, 2023.
According to the survey[1], most (90.5%) executive respondents have adopted digital health even though nearly half (47.6%) cited financial pressures and staff resource constraints (19.1%) as barriers to adoption. Also, the vast majority (81%) have integrated digital health applications into their EHR workflow and about 1 in 5 (19.1%) stated they had achieved advanced EHR integration of digital health applications with defined goals and metrics.
Additional key findings include:
- 81% define digital health as downloadable apps and programs with a connected device, followed closely by patient education, pdfs and videos (not clinical references) (71.4%).
- Two thirds (66.7%) named remote patient monitoring (RPM) and downloadable apps and programs (no connected devices) as digital health.
- More than 3 in 4 (76.2%) respondents stated their health systems have experienced increased patient engagement due to increased digital health adoption. Nearly half (47.6%) of respondents noted clinician ease of use due to this increase.
- Respondents are seeing a better bottom line and reduced readmissions (14.3%) from increased digital health adoption.
- More payor or employer funded programs (81%), patient demand (71.4%), improved interoperability & ease of integration (66. 7%), clear CPT codes for digital interventions (42.9%) and more clinical evidence (33.3%) were top motivators in health systems expanding digital health.
- No respondents named C-level support or patient engagement as barriers to adoption.
“In an industry that is notoriously slow to change, digital health has been relatively fast at reaching a tipping point,” said Mike McSherry, CEO and co-founder of Xealth. “This research shows the opportunity with digital health. It is gratifying to see widespread C-level support and health systems beginning to tie bottom line growth and reduced readmissions to digital health. We expect that percentage to grow as digital programs mature and establish best practices.”
