Health Equity In The AI And Digital Health Era: Promise or Peril?

This report estimated that poor health reduces global GDP by 15% each year.  On the flip side, equalizing healthcare access and quality has healthful effects on the economy at large. Digital technology could narrow the health equity gap by simplifying complex medical processes and removing travel barriers to healthcare access. Figures indicate that underrepresented and/or disadvantaged (poor, rural, minority, women, LGBTQ, etc) groups have significantly less access to all the cutting-edge solutions digital health offers. Thus the gap is not only not closing, but it’s rather further widening right now. With the right policies, incentives, subsidies and education, digital health will aid these underrepresented groups, and not just them. It could also help with problems like the “diagnostic odyssey,” a term that describes the long, often arduous journey that individuals with rare conditions undertake before they meet the right specialist. According to the National Organization for Rare Disorders, this odyssey averages five years in the United States.  We need money, money and goodwill in policies All things considered, we can conclude that, in theory, digital health and AI offer significant potential to improve health equity, even though this goes beyond being just a technological issue. These advantages might not be immediately accessible to everyone, but over time, they will become increasingly mainstream – as did many breakthro...
Source: The Medical Futurist - Category: Information Technology Authors: Tags: TMF Artificial Intelligence in Medicine Health Sensors & Trackers Personalized Medicine Telemedicine & Smartphones digital health literacy health equity digital health equity AI Source Type: blogs