To be at the intersection of technology and product development in a field as ripe for disruption as healthcare couldn’t be more opportune. But how can we use technology to improve community health, especially after COVID-19?
Technology and Health: A Budding Relationship
On April 10th 2020 the Apple-Google partnership announced a no
tification tool for contact tracing to support the pandemic response effort. As states take it upon themselves to arrange the infrastructure necessary to reopen the economy, adoption of this tool remains concentrated to a few states, namely South Carolina, North Dakota and Alabama. More states might welcome technological assistance as COVID-19 accelerates the pace of tech contributions to healthcare.
While the 2017 Amazon Berkshire Hathaway JP Morgan venture announcement and Google’s Project Nightingale are early-stage enterprises, the COVID-19 pandemic offers a breeding ground for technology and health. The Amazon earnings report for the first quarter of 2020, announced a $4 billion-dollar investment in coronavirus-related efforts. This includes building testing capabilities for its employees. The potential business ambitions of companies like Apple, Google, or Amazon after COVID-19 are within the realm of motivating factors.
But what effect will technology have on community health? To this end, two questions are worth asking: 1) How can technology strengthen the attention to social drivers of health? 2) How can technology support community driven initiatives and improve community health?
Movement Underway to Involve Technology in Community Health
Health care system efforts are underway to address transportation, housing, and screening for health-related social needs. The success of these initiatives is a function of their ability close the loop in connecting people to resources in their communities. Thus, tools that can track and analyze area level resources in cities are invaluable to meeting community health need. Concerns about privacy and the privatization of such data should not overlooked. However, deploying such technology can support the goals of local communities and policymakers.
Products like mySidewalk, a platform where civic organizations or local government can partner with private entities to leverage geospatial analytics in tracking key community indicators such as neighborhood walkability and access to healthy foods is one example. Another technology solution that addresses social factors in health is the use of non-emergency medical transportation offerings through Uber Health. Outside the health sector, ride sharing companies, Uber and Lyft, have partnered with cities to share data to help ease traffic congestion and assess the effect of ride sharing on greenhouse gas emissions.
These offerings have positioned technology as a complement to broader health and civic initiatives. And, in absence of a robust government response to COVID-19, the health initiatives of the big tech companies even seem poised to nearly supplant those civic efforts. The increasing reliance on companies like Amazon, Google, or Apple during these times feels almost paradoxical to pre-COVID monopolistic concerns.
Returning to Social Drivers of Health
COVID-19 is illuminating stark income inequalities, persistent racial injustices, and increasing deaths of despair that were trending pre-pandemic. These often interconnected issues demand social and economic solutions beyond health care. And leveraging technology in how communities and residents work together to respond to local need seems promising.
Technology platforms could extend the reach of healthcare through the provision of community based services, health education and information. However, it is imperative that we pay close attention to how this is achieved. Especially since opportunities to exploit data for commercial interest are ever present, and any benefits may not reach communities equitably. So how can communities reap the benefits of innovation without the seeds of exploitation? One way this could be achieved is by developing more collective ownership and community accountability mechanisms.
Infrastructure for Collective Ownership
Coordinated Care Organizations, Accountable Care Communities, Accountable Health Communities are early examples of building cross-sector collaboration. These interventions allow systems to respond to social determinants of health, predicated on community input. They also might offer a structure for the kind of collective governance that could enable a synergistic relationship with technology contributions.
Integrating physical, behavioral, and social health could benefit from more fully integrated data technologies. The emerging alliances between government and technology companies ushered in by COVID-19 might bring promising partnerships at the state or even neighborhood level. However, these partnerships should include collective ownership and community input. Communities should be deciding which strategies and technologies best serve them.
Furthermore, the underrepresentation of marginalized groups in tech and the lack of diversity on technology company boards, highlights the need for community involvement in any tech involvement in community health. Using community-based participatory work is particularly important in building trust as we leverage technology to support community health.
Nicole Pereira