Health care is a high-tech industry, but there are a lot of missed opportunities when it comes to using the latest gadgets for improving chronic disease management, NEHI, a national health policy institute based in Boston, suggests in a recent report, "Getting to Value: Eleven Chronic Disease Technologies to Watch." The report contends: "High-value technologies are underused, held back from systemic barriers that hinder technology adoption and innovation." NEHI identified tools that the health care industry could use to control chronic disease better.
Class I
Tech with evidence supporting clinical and financial benefits
- Extended care e-visits
- Home telehealth
- Telestroke
Class II
Tech that "leverages a well-established intervention" that shows clinical and financial benefits
- Mobile clinical decision support
- Virtual visits
Class III
Mobile tools
- Mobile diabetes management tools
- Medication adherence tools
- Mobile asthma management tools
Class IV
Tech with longer horizon, but shows promise
- In-car telemedicine
- Social media promoting health
- Mobile cardiovascular tools
