Lygeia Ricciardi, Senior Policy Advisor for Consumer e-Health at the US Department of Health & Human Services has stated that her goal is to transform complex public health goals into easy-to-use, Internet-ready “patient empowerment” tools.

Ricciardi asserts that she is working to bridge the divide between the traditional health system and the climate of digital health tools for the public, using smartphone applications, text reminders, sensors, and online communities focused on particular health conditions.

It is her belief that by becoming part of the digital revolution and the increasingly introducing a number of tools into healthcare will ultimately cause a “shift”. Innovative technology such as smartphone applications and other social media tools now at the disposal of providers and patients and will eventually create more “empowered patients.”

Despite these thoughts being echoed by numerous health providers and professionals, creating a climate that supports tech-savvy and pro-active patients may prove somewhat difficult in reality. A cultural shift will first be required on the part of patients to take responsibility for their own health. Furthermore, some clinicians could possibly prove resistant to “empowered patients” who have researched their own conditions and expect to have more input into their treatment. “Ultimately what we’re driving toward is having the patient and the provider on the same side, working together toward better quality care” she said.

A pilot program by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) is currently running to transmit text messages to low-income cell phone owners at risk for diabetes. Ricciardi states that this is just one of the projects that she is involved with where the use of technology has the potential to transform health care and is currently accessible today. The use of wireless scales is becoming more prevalent within healthcare, with reports that dramatic weight gain of a patient in and amongst daily fluctuations having been used successfully to indicate heart failure.

Ricciardi say that the positive effects that have been brought about by the use of technology illustrates the need not just for consumers to be savvy about their health care, but also about their health. She also notes that well-informed patients will potentially provide their clinicians with more information about their health history or their symptoms, leading to more informed decisions being made about patient care

“Who has a greater investment in the health outcome than you and the people who care about you? So why not harness that?” she said.

To help bring out the cultural shift, the ONC is producing an outreach campaign to educate consumers and providers about how technology can improve people’s health and streamline the health care delivery system. Ricciardi wants to encourage or even require doctors to use text messages, or other electronic messaging tools, to communicate with patients.

Acquiring financing for these systems she says is the greatest barrier to digital healthcare. She also notes instances where providers and reluctant to engage in technology and digital communication routes on the ground that it is “not part of their job.” Ultimately this created inefficiencies and costs to the system, taking up clinical time with an appointment that might have easily been resolved via email or phone. As health reform ushers in changes to the current payment system, with more emphasis on rewarding outcomes than rewarding volume, that should begin to change, she said.