technology and COVID-19
WHAT’S NEXT? LEVERAGING INNOVATION The CSG Healthy States subcommittee focuses on opportunities presented by emerging health innovations and technologies by Joel Sams
This story is one of a series that will summarize the hard work being done by the subcommittees of the CSG Healthy States National Task Force and the CSG The Future of Work National Task Force. The members of these subcommittees will work with CSG policy analysts to issue the findings of these task forces in a report following the conclusion of their work at the close of 2020.
ISSUE 2 2020 | CAPITOL IDEAS
With a focus on emerging technologies, the CSG What’s Next? Leveraging Innovation subcommittee is examining how innovations will impact health care in years to come. Members of the subcommittee—which is part of the CSG Healthy States National Task Force—are examining five areas: artificial/ augmented intelligence (AI), 5G, electronic health records (EHRs), telemedicine/telehealth and occupational licensure and scope of practice.
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During the December 2020 CSG National Conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico, subcommittee members heard from a variety of experts offering perspectives from medical professional associations, insight on telehealth access and a model for value-based care. Based on their discussions, the subcommittee identified two policy areas to focus on for the remainder of their work: data and barriers to access. The subcommittee’s work on data includes concerns around the interoperability, ownership and quality of data. They are also exploring data privacy, efforts to establish one-patient identifiers—a practice that reduces redundancy and improves accuracy in health records—and strategies to address algorithmic bias as artificial/augmented intelligence develops.
The issue of barriers to access includes concerns like broadband and 5G infrastructure, education of the medical workforce, rural health access, medical licensure, public awareness of healthcare innovations, the future of rural health facilities, healthcare affordability and inclusiveness in an increasingly tech-oriented health care system. Co-chaired by Kentucky state Sen. Stephen Meredith, a former rural hospital CEO, and New Mexico state Rep. Liz Thomson, a physical therapist, the subcommittee is working on issues that have only proven more relevant in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Meredith says the challenge of the current crisis is an opportunity for health care innovations to prove their worth. “Opportunity always evolves out of adversity, if we look for it, and this pandemic is no exception,” Meredith said. “The possibility of creating a vaccine within a 12 to 18-month period to prevent this virus is truly revolutionary and could not have even been imagined if it were not for the innovations we have seen and are seeing in technology. It gives hope for the future to be able treat diseases and improve the quality of life
