Patient and provider collaboration is required to monitor and adjust medication and treatment plans, assess risk, and elicit the patient’s support network for visits, follow-up care, and therapy. This activity requires personal and continual communication that can be improved via technical innovations.

Often the blame for technological disruptions goes to a lack of interoperability—the ability of information technology systems and software applications to communicate, exchange data, and put this exchanged information to use. Ideally, data exchange standards would allow data to be shared across clinicians, labs, and facilities, regardless of the application or software vendor.

Out of necessity, the medical community has made do with remote learning during COVID-19, whether that’s through Zoom®, Webex®, or other online platforms.

While Hospital at Home may sound like a direct reaction to the pandemic, the concept was originally developed in the mid-1990s by Dr. John Burton of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and Dr. Donna Regenstreif of the John A. Hartford Foundation. Their goal, which was established roughly a decade before the introduction of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s Triple Aim, was to safely bring down the cost of acute care while improving outcomes and increasing patient satisfaction.

Data exists that can help patients achieve better healthcare, but the industry itself must ensure that this data is available, accessible, and understood. Organizations and providers often have access to some of the data in question; the key, though, is connecting healthcare stakeholders and patients to complete information that enables informed decisions, which the industry has not yet perfected.