With a full sweep of the House, Senate and White House, Republicans have the long-sought political capital to overturn the Affordable Care Act, and the new policy universe may have serious effects on investment in digital health.
RELATED: Following election, health IT policy picture is murky
New regulations that place a greater burden of healthcare’s financial risks on consumers may spur a wave of investment in digital health technologies, HIT Consultant reports.
The article cites several areas that could be fertile ground for investment dollars, including:
User-facing technologies, as consumers are poised to spend limited dollars to buy health plans on the open market – meaning “they will need help, in much more significant ways than exist now in shopping for care,” the article notes.
Sensors and tracking tools, such as using wearables to reward consumers for healthier behaviors and allowing payers to better monitor their members’ activity, is likely to be an area primed for increased investment, according to the article.
Fostering success in the digital health space under the Trump administration’s regulatory environment will hinge on who leads offices such as the Department of Health and Human Services, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT and the Surgeon General.
But “it will probably take months” for a new ONC coordinator to be tapped, former ONC policy director Jodi Daniel told FierceHealthIT last week. Daniel said she expects the attention surrounding the ACA to allow health IT policy to fly under the radar for a while.