Digital Health Interventions to Enhance Prevention in Primary Care: Scoping Review

Area of Science:

• Digital Health
• Primary Care
• Preventive Medicine

Background:

• Primary care encompasses multiple levels of disease prevention, including primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary care.
• Despite advancements in digital health, systematic evaluations of digital health interventions (DHIs) in preventive care are limited.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify and describe the scope and utilization of current DHIs for preventive care within primary care settings.
• To analyze the types of technologies used, their application in prevention, and their impact on healthcare delivery.

Main Methods:

• A scoping review of literature published between 2014 and 2020 was conducted.
• Searches included multiple databases using keywords and Medical Subject Headings related to primary care, prevention, and digital health.
• Studies focused on US primary care settings, excluding DHIs solely for retrospective EHR data capture.

Main Results:

• The review identified 241 relevant articles, with DHIs frequently utilizing electronic health records (EHRs), clinical decision support, and telehealth.
• DHIs were predominantly applied to tertiary prevention and addressed core primary care functions like comprehensiveness.
• While significant clinical and non-clinical improvements were reported, study quality was generally moderate to low.

Conclusions:

• Preventive DHIs in primary care settings demonstrate potential for improving clinical and non-clinical outcomes across diverse user groups.
• US adoption is concentrated on EHR platforms, primarily for clinician alerts in care management.
• Further research is needed to explore negative outcomes, impact on health disparities, and broader implementation strategies.