DiMe Announces New Connected Health Collaborative Community

Pre-competitive collaboration will advance a unified approach to connected health to improve access and reduce cost of healthcare

BOSTON, Dec. 17, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The Digital Medicine Society (DiMe) is proud to announce the launch of the Connected Health Collaborative Community (CHcc), co-hosted with the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) and with UMass Chan Medical School's Program in Digital Medicine as the founding Impact Sponsor. This new initiative brings together industry stakeholders with the goal of advancing connected health technologies by establishing best practices and addressing fragmentation. CHcc's inaugural project, Advancing a Sustainable Hospital-at-Home Ecosystem at Scale, is led by DiMe and CTA in partnership with UMass Chan Medical School's Program in Digital Medicine as the project's Impact Sponsor.

The first CHcc project will focus on advancing the appropriate use of technology to optimize Hospital-at-Home. This effort convenes experts from healthcare, tech, patient organizations, and government to collaborate on creating scalable, cost-effective hospital-at-home care models. Participating organizations comprise the founding membership of CHcc and include: Abbott; AdaptHealth; Advamed; Alexion, AstraZeneca Rare Disease; Amazon Web Services; American Nurses Association; B.Well Connected Health; CareSet; ChristianaCare; Health Advances; Allegheny Health Network; Intelligent Product Solutions; John Hancock; Mayo Clinic; Mass General Hospital; Medical Device Innovation Consortium; Medically Home; Oracle; Sparx Engineering; Verily; U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs; Vivalink; Ypsomed; Together, these leaders will develop a suite of free resources to support the expansion and optimization of hospital-at-home technologies for healthcare organizations of various sizes, settings and resources across the country.

"Hospital-at-home models have already proven their ability to reduce costs, improve patient outcomes, and enhance satisfaction," said Jennifer Goldsack, CEO, DiMe. "By harnessing the potential of digital health and uniting diverse experts in the field, this new initiative will drive the widespread adoption of these models, ensuring more patients have access to high-quality care where they need it most. Through the launch of the Connected Health Collaborative Community, with an initial focus on hospital-at-home, we are laying the foundation for a truly connected healthcare infrastructure—one that supports individuals across the entire continuum of care, from health promotion and aging in place to delivering high-acuity care in the home."

Hospital-at-home programs offer a promising solution to many inefficiencies in today's healthcare system. By utilizing connected health technologies, healthcare providers can offer inpatient-level care in patients' homes, leading to cost savings, better resource management, and improved patient satisfaction. With the potential to reduce healthcare spending and enhance outcomes, this model is poised to transform the future of healthcare.

"This movement to bring healthcare into people's homes is a critical transformation that will enable us to make healthcare more accessible, more affordable, more contextual and personalized - and will improve overall outcomes of care," said Zeev Neuwirth MD, healthcare executive, author, podcast host. "The bringing together of these outstanding and diverse participant organizations into a Connected Health Community Collaborative will seek to accelerate the learnings and advancement of the home-based care ecosystem and the hospital at home movement."

"Data shows that health systems offering hospital care at home have experienced improved health outcomes," said Pippa Shulman, MPH, DO, chief medical officer and chief strategy officer for Medically Home. "Connected health technologies are fundamental to providing this transformative model of care delivery, and the project will contribute to a needed framework of standards for sustainable hospital-at-home programs."

The project will also address fragmentation in connected health by leveraging interdisciplinary expertise and establishing best practices across the ecosystem. The CHcc initiative is aligning its work and engaging with government programs, such as the Veterans' Health Administration's Home-Based Primary Care, the CMS Acute Hospital Care at Home program, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Older Adult Home Modification Program (OAHMP), as well as leading private-sector connected care programs.

We invite innovators in smart home and digital health, as well as payors, government, and health systems, to join us in future multi-stakeholder initiatives hosted by CHcc as we seek to improve the overall health of all individuals through digitally-enabled products, services, and interventions that collectively connect health. Learn more about collaborative communities on the FDA website here, and learn more about upcoming opportunities to partner with CTA and DiMe to define the necessary infrastructure and incentives to support aging in place while ensuring seamless transitions to acute care, allowing older adults to age with dignity here.

About the Connected Health Collaborative Community: The Connected Health Collaborative Community (CHcc) is co-hosted by the Digital Medicine Society (DiMe) and the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) with UMass Chan Medical School's Program in Digital Medicine as the founding Impact Sponsor. We unite diverse stakeholders across the consumer electronics, medical devices, and government sectors to reimagine and address the fragmentation in connected health across the healthcare system. Our members use digitally enabled products, services, and interventions to tackle challenges in the connected health ecosystem, shifting from sick care to whole health care.

About the Digital Medicine Society: DiMe is a global non-profit and the professional home for all members of the digital medicine community. Together, we tackle the toughest digital medicine challenges, develop clinical-quality resources on a technology timeline, and deliver these actionable resources to the field via open-source channels and educational programs.

Media Contact: Carla English, [email protected]

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SOURCE Digital Medicine Society (DiMe)