Digital Health: Opportunities and Challenges to Develop the Next-Generation Technology-Enabled Models of...

The wide gap between the development of new healthcare technologies and their integration into clinical practice argues for a deeper understanding of how effective quality improvement can be designed to meet the needs of patients and their clinical teams. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced us to address this gap and create long-term strategies to bridge it. On the one hand, it has enabled the rapid implementation of telehealth. On the other hand, it has raised important questions about our preparedness to adopt and employ new digital tools as part of a new process of care. While healthcare organizations are seeking to improve the quality of care by integrating innovations in digital health, they must also address key issues such as patient experience, develop clinical decision support systems that analyze digital health data trends, and create efficient clinical workflows. Given the breadth of such requirements, embracing new technologies as a core competency of a modern healthcare system introduces a host of questions, such as "How best do patients participate in digital health programs that promote behavioral changes and mitigate risk?" and "What type of data analytics are required that enable a deeper understanding of disease phenotypes and corresponding treatment decisions?" This review presents the challenges in implementing digital health technology and discusses how patient-centered digital health programs are designed within real-world models of remote monitoring. It also provides a framework for developing new devices and wearables for the next generation of data-driven, technology-enabled cardiovascular care.