Ensuring maximum impact for this prize

TerryMulligan

Imagine a world where the winning solution of an XPRIZE leads to a digital health system that successfully aggregates and harmonizes health data to meet the primary care needs of a country - where complete patient health data is available at each point of care from the hospitals to the frontline health workers - what kinds of positive impact could be made?

In the context of a competition:

• What key criteria are necessary to evaluate and measure?
• What criteria should be prioritized and why?

Shashi

Hi @ymedan, @bngejane, @ajchenx, @mashizaq, @Kwenz, @JohnParrishSprowl, @DidierC - I feel you might have some thoughts to share on this discussion.

ymedan

I suggest having 2 metrics:
1. Population Health metric (Healthspan=LifeSpan=Average lifespan of 10 top nations)
2. GDP expenditure dedicated to sickcare (ideally 0)

Shashi

Thanks @ymedan for sharing those matrix. Indeed if countries could move away from sick care to wellness, it would be a great positive impact.

Shashi

Hey @paulauerbach, @Hlantum, @tylerbn, @arun_venkatesan, @Kwenz, @dpatterson22, @shamakarkal, @Nvargas2, @Nitesh, @mendezra2 - Curious to know your thoughts on the positive impact of an end to end digital health system.

shamakarkal

Seconding @ymedan on the wellness and i'd suggest the CDC/WHO - Healthy Days - #of healthdays increased.
On the questions raised by Terry , there are two sets of considerations - the positive impact of having data and criteria/evaluation metrics for the winning solution of the XPRIZE. If i got that right, then I think the data would be need to be used for decision making regarding quality of care, who is getting care, cost of care etc - better targeting of improvements in the system would be feasible.

Evaluation criteria for the competition could be - 1) will the solution significantly improve the achievement of outcomes 2) per capita cost to do so 3) can existing systems adopt it without significant structural change? 4) how much "visibility" does the customer/citizen get?

Shashi

Hi @dollendorf, @pglass, @Lauren, @jblaya, @C_Castellaz, @poppyfarrow, @angelfoster, @krp and @praveenraja - What is your take on the positive impact of an end to end digital health system and the criteria mentioned so far. Love to hear your thoughts.

Shashi

Hi @rams, @Manoj_Nemocare, @sola1008, @alafiasam, @jenyxp, @skornik, @andwhite, @biki, @martijnspruit, @berniceredley - What kind of positive impact can a successful end to end digital healthcare system create?

HeatherSutton

@ymedan and @shamakarkal ~ Thank you very much for these criteria! As @Shashi mentioned in her reply, I too appreciate the focus away from sick care to wellness. I've added your thoughts to our list of potential criteria. And if you both are OK with it, we may reach out to you with additional questions on the topic. Thank you, as always, for your engagement with this prize. It means so much to us!

shamakarkal

@HeatherSutton absolutely - anytime!

Shashi

Hi @RahulJindal, @Ewunate, @namkugkim, @scveena, @joshnesbit, @a1m2r3h4, @acowlagi, @preciouslunga and @stephaniel - What key criteria's would you be looking out for to understand a successful implementation of a digital health system with positive impact in the healthcare of a country?

mashizaq

@Shashi Many data sets do not include key demographic data, such as age, gender, and race, thus make it difficult to gauge whether they are biased in other ways. It might be useful for an algorithm to focus on a subset of a population, for instance when diagnosing a disease that disproportionately affects that group.

Shashi

Thanks @mashizaq for drawing our attention towards this point. I agree aggregating comprehensive data is essential for the success of digital health initiative.

skornik

Shashi wrote: »

Hi @dollendorf, @pglass, @Lauren, @jblaya, @C_Castellaz, @poppyfarrow, @angelfoster, @krp and @praveenraja - What is your take on the positive impact of an end to end digital health system and the criteria mentioned so far. Love to hear your thoughts.

Possible positive impacts:

• Improved team work between previously fragmented skills and resources in the system. This can reduce costs (lowest cost skill can deliver to top-of-scope) and improve access (digital systems can allow local more commonly available health workers to have access to more advanced, scarcer skills)
• Single view of the patient enabled by a digital system improves quality of care (treat a patient to solve all their problems, rather than just handling the single encounter for which they have come to seek care) and reduces duplication of services, further reducing costs.
• Improved population health planning is fostered through aggregated data in regions, allowing for resource planning and costing.
• Value-based care can be delivered as health outcomes are measured and providers can be reimbursed against these.

Shashi

Thank you @skornik for sharing these insights. All points mentioned are helpful in planning wider impact for this prize. Would you like to throw some light on how we could measure these positive impacts.

dollendorf

Summary measures of quality and/or length of life: lives saved, disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) averted, life-years gained.
Aversion of medical events: hospitalization, ambulance, emergency/urgent visits
These are what is most important. Measures of improved health system efficiency only matter if they lead to better patient outcomes.

Shashi

Well said @dollendorf! Thank you for sharing your thoughts. We have taken a note of all the points mentioned.