The Digital Revolution with Dr. Steven Gerst

Robin chats with Dr. Steven Gerst, a scholar at the Wharton School of Business, about the digital health revolution. Gerst, who has an extensive background in several areas of health care, is one of the most knowledgeable experts on health care innovation. Gerst cites a 2015 Goldman Sachs report, which categorized the digital health revolution as comprising three major platforms: remote patient monitoring, telehealth, and behavioral health. Through these three technologically based platforms, the United States can save more than $300 billion a year. In addition, through these innovative platforms, a patient's behavior, diet, and medication can be adjusted almost instantaneously. Gerst notes that being able to make these adjustments has resulted, for example, in dramatic reductions in readmissions for congestive heart failure. This digital health revolution also is significantly impacting reimbursement. Increasingly, health care is becoming value-based, with incentives, through accounting care organizations, for physicians and other health care providers who find ways to reduce costs and achieve better outcomes.