Knowledge is power, but it’s important to distinguish information and raw data from actionable insights. Especially in healthcare, an abundance of data and information without the knowledge to filter and decipher it can lead to misunderstanding, anxiety, and even harm.
My colleague, Laura Copeland, MD, recently discussed the need to empower doctors to learn about new healthcare technologies. This led us to a discussion about how to discern when implementing technology that collects health information is beneficial and when it could cause potential harm—whether it’s data sourced from a medical test or a wearable device.
While it’s important for doctors to be aware of data-collecting health technologies, it’s essential to have guidance around when or if to implement them. So, how can healthcare providers tune out the noise and ensure they’re providing the right level of care for their patients?
Population screening: Striking the right balance
It’s an unfortunate reality that some forms of cancer are prevalent in certain populations. For instance, approximately one in eight men (or 12.5%) will develop prostate cancer in their lifetime. With a statistic like that, you might expect our health system to regularly invite all men to be tested for the disease (otherwise known as screening). However, studies have shown that, statistically, prostate cancer screening does not extend overall life expectancy.
As Prostate Cancer UK’s Director of Research, Dr Matthew Hobbs, explains, “decisions around screening programmes are complicated. They’re a balancing act between how many people would be helped, and how many people would be harmed.”
It’s essential to regularly test men at risk of developing fatal prostate cancer who would benefit from treatment. However, screening all men regularly may result in over-diagnoses and treatment that could lead to harmful side-effects such as incontinence, anxiety, impotence, and in cases where a biopsy is ordered, possibly even severe infection or other complications.
With an average of 14 Canadian men dying from the disease each day, it may sound counterintuitive, but providing treatment to some men with the disease won’t benefit them. The group of men most at risk of dying from prostate cancer are the same group at risk from other leading causes of death, such as cardiac disease. Because of their compromised health due to comorbidities, diagnosing and treating them for prostate cancer could cause more harm than good.
Health data gathered from wearable devices shouldn’t be taken at face value
In some cases, the immense amount of health data collected by apps (especially those from wearable devices like Apple Watches and Fitbits) can also do more harm than good.
A patient talking to their doctor about a possible diagnosis made by an app may be a step up from a “diagnosis” from WebMD (a topic there are many humorous memes dedicated to), but their doctor still needs to review and analyze the data to decide if it’s valid and whether further testing or treatment is needed.
Although these apps can encourage people to be more active and gather quality health data, using this data at face value could lead to anxiety, unnecessary screening, and even misdiagnosis and harm. While several wellness and health apps are FDA-approved, this level of legitimacy could add to the problem, as patients may choose to trust their devices more than their healthcare providers.
In the future, health and wellness apps may be reliable enough to provide accurate diagnoses and even recommend treatment, but for the time being, it’s important to understand they are simply tools that capture and analyze data—at best, they provide a short cut to a diagnosis from a doctor.
The need for health technology implementation to be data-driven
It’s understandable that patients and healthcare providers are excited by the prospect of proactively monitoring health to ensure issues are caught early and the appropriate care is provided. However, we need to ensure the methods and technologies in place are doing so effectively and not adding strain to the health system and leading to anxiety in individuals.
Effectively applying methods and technologies for proactive healthcare can also apply to preventative medicine, like vaccines—something that Nordic has been helping clients with.
To help improve adult seasonal flu immunization and pediatric respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) immunization rates, Nordic’s performance improvement team has worked closely with health information system teams across North America to create a toolkit that helps organizations identify health technology opportunities that support increased immunization rates at no cost to the health system.
For instance, they found that using patient portals to send messages in a patient’s preferred language resulted in increased appointment scheduling and immunization adherence. Similar to selective cancer screening, this method effectively targeted the appropriate demographic, leading to greater immunization rates and subsequently reduced harm.
No singular organization or person has all the answers for effectively implementing health technology, navigating the never-ending stream of new technology we encounter daily, or simply using an existing system in an innovative way. But partnering with end-to-end health IT experts, like the consultants at Nordic, can ensure that any new uses or implementations will be data-driven and effective.
Need guidance to determine the best digital tools to support your organization’s goals and priorities? Contact the talented team at Nordic today to schedule a 1:1 meeting.