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A Community-Inspired Conversation About Health Access

Published Date
Author Providence Digital Innovation Group

[2 MIN READ | 16 MIN WATCH]

Despite the myriad apps and new care options, access to quality health care remains a huge barrier for patients - particularly in underserved communities.  Per the CDC, access to quality healthcare can be limited for low-income populations by many factors, including: lack of transportation, child care, or even having the ability to take time off work. Communication and language barriers as well as cultural differences between patients and their providers make accessing trusted, quality care seem even more difficult.

There’s opportunity for digital technology to open up access and help build trusted relationships, but innovation can’t just happen from afar. Effective and sustainable change requires real conversations with real people in underserved communities to truly understand potential solutions.

We collaborated with Grapevine Health Founder and CEO, Dr. Lisa Fitzpatrick, to go ‘on the street’ to talk to people about the myriad challenges facing underserved patient populations and use those conversations as fuel for innovation.

In these rich brainmeld collaboration sessions, experts from the Providence Digital Innovation Group, the broader Providence team and Dr. Lisa herself unpack challenges outlined directly from ‘people on-the-street’, and collaborate in real-time around how and where digital can fuel sustainable solutions.

This episode focuses on the challenges surrounding how patients in underserved communities access care - in other words, how, when and where they want to have their care. 

Key themes the team covered in this conversation:

  • Trust building as a foundational stepping stone for how and where we build points of access for patients.

  • ‘Fast thinking’ vs. ‘slow thinking’ of how we digital can meet patient needs and expectations.

  • Patient advocacy programs that leverage digital to help patients understand conditions and a course for care, in their terms.

Solutions ranged from developing video content that makes dense information more palatable to digital community groups that keep patients in the loop, and design resources that connect patients directly with others facing similar conditions.

Watch the full episode below: