“What would be the single most impactful new policy at HHS to support digital health growth?” Stephen Konya, Chief of Innovation and Strategic Partnerships at HHS, asked me at one of the ViVE receptions last week.
Digital health is a complex market – there’s no single silver bullet that can solve everything. I believe that two critical issues continue to slow down digital health adoption: engagement and incentives.
At Twig Health, we focus on hyper-engagement, drawing inspiration from the retail sector to improve patient or member interactions and activation. So naturally, I approached Stephen’s question from that angle.
Surprisingly, there’s one glaring issue that consistently slows the engagement down.
The Engagement Gap: Healthcare Stuck in the 1970s
We live in a digital world, yet most patient and member communications in healthcare is trapped in the 1970s – relying on phone calls, mail, and in-person visits.
Meanwhile, every other industry has fully embraced digital communication through messaging, email, and app notifications.
The government needs to take a clear and unequivocal stance on enabling common digital communication channels like text messaging and email for healthcare.
Yes, these channels are technically unsecure, but that’s where patients are expecting to be addressed.
The Policy Fix: HHS + FCC Must Clarify the TCPA
The good news? We don’t need to reinvent the wheel. The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at HHS already issued guidance stating that healthcare organizations can use text messaging and email if the patient gives consent and understands the security risks (in particular, the statement provided by Roger Severino, Director of HHS OCR in 2018).
However, there’s still confusion due to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) -which was designed to protect consumers from spam marketing but inadvertently limits healthcare organizations from digital outreach to patients.
If HHS and the FCC can get together to clarify that TCPA does not apply to healthcare communications, from plans and hospitals, this would be a game-changer. It would unlock engagement at scale, allowing providers and insurers to meet patients where they already are—in their messaging apps and email inboxes.
A Call to Action
HHS has the power to modernize patient engagement with a simple policy clarification. By aligning with the FCC and ensuring digital health communications are not restricted by outdated telemarketing regulations, we can finally bridge the engagement gap and accelerate the future of digital health.
HHS, let’s make it happen!
#healthcare #digitalhealth #sms #texting #patientengagement