At Violet, it’s our business to know the current landscape of health equity, and we’re particularly attuned to the needs of digital health teams to enable inclusive, identity-centered care. I’ve had hundreds of conversations with folks in the digital health care space—leaders who are leveraging initiatives and new technologies, like Violet, to strengthen and enhance their care delivery. Based on my analysis of these conversations, I’ve compiled a list of the top seven things that digital health teams care about most.
- Improving patient outcomes. Unsurprisingly, the top priority for digital health care teams across size and specialty is their patients. Operation managers are hyper-focused on developing solutions that improve patient outcomes, patient satisfaction, and allow for better access to quality care. By focusing on health equity and meeting the unique clinical needs and identities of each individual patient, health care leaders are using Violet to unlock the power of delivering inclusive care at scale.
- Addressing health care disparities. Clinical teams are acutely aware of the disparities that exist across different communities, and are committed to building a culture that inspires continued education, self-reflection, and growth.
- One team we spoke to discovered that 32% of their active cases identify themselves as having at least one parent of color. By partnering with their care leaders to create learning pathways focused on ‘BIPOC mental health,’ we can ensure their care team has the foundational knowledge of the individual health disparities impacting that community as well as actionable next steps to build confidence when working with Black and Indigenous youth. - Integration with existing systems. New technology is only helpful if it seamlessly integrates with existing health care systems and workflows. As such, digital health teams are focused on developing solutions that can integrate intuitively with electronic health records (EHRs) and other health care technologies. At the end of the day, it’s about saving providers time and clicks, which has enabled project leads to consistently seek out new ways to quickly and easily onboard their staff. To meet that need, we’ve introduced one step, Single Sign On with Violet.
- Making cultural competence widespread. More and more, I’ve spoken with digital health leaders about the importance of ensuring everyone on their staff has a baseline understanding of cultural competence. Not only that, but an understanding of why cultural competence education is crucial in the first place. This is helpful to have in place when setting expectations with all new hires.
- In some cases, care delivery teams may not know about the lack of inclusive care—this can be as simple as acknowledging a language barrier or identifying a lack of bilingual providers.
- In other cases, teams are well aware of the need for cultural competence education. As one leader put it, “We’re in a very conservative area, so we’ve got a lot to learn, myself included.”
- Ultimately, what I've heard most is that learning and development doesn't stop with care delivery. Whether you're a clinical psychologist, a care navigator, or a finance manager in the accounting department, our digital health partners are interested in investing in company-wide cultural competence education; building a culture of empathy, monthly, shared goals, and the ability to have tough but meaningful conversations. - Recruiting and retaining. In the understaffed health care landscape, recruiting and retaining clinicians is always top of mind. It’s becoming more common for providers to seek out professional development in cultural sensitivity and trauma-informed care. Employers can offer free cultural competence education through Violet. Care teams can upskill their understanding of BIPOC, LGBQ, and TGNC patients and employers can publicize this professional development offering to recruit and retain staff.
- This was huge for team retention with one of our customers providing feedback that, “our team is really grateful for not only the organization giving us the opportunity to learn through Violet, but reserving time to make sure it’s possible.”
- One physician assistant with 22 years of experience working with diverse communities let us know that she has learned a lot from her transgender family member about the TGNC community, but that she also knows “there will always be more to learn [and] new ways to improve patient care.” For these reasons, she told us that she, “really loves working for a company that values cultural competency." - Employee special interest groups. Clinicians want a vibrant workplace, including committees, employee resource groups (ERGs), and social justice groups that support topics that matter most to them.
- After working with Violet, one organization decided to implement a social justice task force to turn discussions into specific policies and procedures for their company. - Business sustainability. Digital health teams are working to build sustainable business models that can support their growth over the long term. They are seeking ways to generate revenue, attract investment, and build partnerships that can help them scale their solutions. More health care organizations have prioritized health equity to make this happen.
- The Inaugural Health Equity Outlook Report from the EY Center for Health Equity found that “98% of surveyed organizations report having a health equity strategy in place and 82% report that strategy as being enterprise-driven.”
- Deliotte found that investing in health equity across the entire industry can save $320B annually. To discover how health equity can create a substantial return on investment for health care organizations, from business to health outcomes, download Violet’s toolkit.
From quality of care to patient outcomes, digital health teams strive for innovation through health equity. I’m excited to continue working with these teams to build stronger relationships and enable their ability to provide equitable health care for all.
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