Article

How digital-first care is improving health equity

January 19, 2023
Article

How digital-first care is improving health equity

January 19, 2023

Ingeborg Oie

CFO and Chief Strategy Officer at Huma

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We are at a pivotal time for the healthcare industry. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have seen a sustained increase in chronic illnesses and healthcare worker shortages, as well as an increased acceptance of – and demand for – remote care and medtech-enabled solutions.

At Huma, we believe that everyone should have an opportunity to attain their highest level of health. We are proud to work with some of the biggest governments, hospital groups, universities, life science and technology companies to reduce health inequities and help people live longer, fuller lives via research and digital-first healthcare delivery.

By advancing connected care for patients and accelerating research and therapies, our award-winning technologies can help to prevent and eliminate roadblocks to health equity.

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Ingeborg Oie pictures sitting on a panel with three men, smiling.

Inge speaks on a panel at Biotech unplugged at Discovery Park, highlighting the move towards data-driven healthcare. She is joined by experts from Google, Huma, Pfizer and SomX.

The World Economic Forum is working with public, private and civil society stakeholders to embed equity (along with diversity and inclusion) in the new economy and to advance gender parity. We are focused on improving health equity and are honored that Dan Vahdat, Huma CEO and Founder, will join the Digital Health Action Alliance panel at the WEF’s Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland this year to discuss Turning the Tide in Non-Communicable Disease Care Through Digital Health and Community Connection. Huma has been a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Innovators Community since January 2021.

Huma is also proud to be one of the first signatories of the Zero Health Gaps Pledge, the World Economic’s Forum Global Health Equity Network’s initiative. The Global Health Equity Network (GHEN) brings together private sector executives, government representatives, academics, and civil society leaders to advance a collective vision of Zero Health Gaps. The pledge requires leaders across the global economy to collaborate and invest resources, commit to actions and evaluate their impact  – with the aim of creating a world where there are no differences in healthy years in a person’s life span, within and across communities.

In an exciting initiative that demonstrates how digital health tools can advance health equity, Huma is supporting enrolment in Our Future Health through its patient engagement platform which has a total reach of nearly 30 million patients in the UK. This aims to be the biggest population health research study in the world designed to understand better the causes of ill health and key predictors of disease across all populations.

Promoting health equity in clinical trials

According to Clinical Leader, 85% of clinical trials fail to retain enough patients. A big contributor to this failure is the fact that clinical trials have traditionally faced numerous barriers to recruiting sufficient participants from diverse ethnicities.

According to the FDA, ethnic minority groups are disproportionately affected by poverty and low socioeconomic status, which also results in poorer health. These populations often lack access to health education, meaning they often do not recognize the symptoms of disease, as well as often fail to understand the importance of – and actively seek out – treatment and/or treatment options, including clinical trials for which they may be eligible. A recent survey conducted by Corbie-Smith et al showed that black subjects were also less likely than white subjects to trust their physicians to fully explain “their participation in research” and not expose them to unnecessary health risks.

Some minority populations include higher ratios of individuals who work on hourly wages and simply can’t afford the costs associated with clinical trial participation. According to another study, 60% of minority respondents cited distance to the clinical site as the main barrier to participation – especially if the study required multiple follow-up visits – as they couldn’t afford to take time out of their day to participate.

In addition to concerns about unfair ethnic biases on the part of healthcare providers, exceedingly strict inclusion/exclusion criteria – like an unrealistic demand for low BMI, for example – can also block minorities from clinical trial participation, despite evidence showing that the BMI-mortality relationship is actually weaker among blacks compared to whites.

Decentralized clinical trials (DCTs) enable studies to recruit from a much more geographically and ethnically diverse pool, which improves the overall quality of each study by removing many of the roadblocks to participation, like travel requirements.

It’s been a little more than a decade since Pfizer launched the first-ever decentralized clinical trial (DCT), and more decentralized or hybrid clinical trials are now being planned than traditional, face-to-face site-based trials. By allowing patients to interact with a clinician and submit information remotely, our decentralized clinical trial platform can improve trial participation, diversity, engagement and efficiency, at scale. Through our recent acquisition of Alcedis, we will be able to combine that market-leader’s clinical and operational know-how with our digital care expertise to make Huma the optimal healthtech provider, able to support the seamless integration of digital technology into clinical trials.

Improving health equity for patients with chronic conditions using RPM

The barriers that keep minority and rural populations from participating in traditional clinical trials are virtually identical to the barriers that keep them from accessing in-person healthcare. These populations often live considerable distances from care providers, have limited transportation options, and have lower incomes, which prevent them from being able to take time off from work to attend clinic or doctor visits. As a result, they have a disproportionately higher likelihood of experiencing – and disregarding – chronic health conditions like diabetes, obesity and heart disease until they have an adverse event requiring costly hospital admissions.

At Huma, we support healthcare providers to address this disparity with our award-winning  remote patient monitoring (RPM).

Remote medical visits proved crucial during the pandemic, forever transforming healthcare delivery. The pandemic demonstrated the value of telehealth for all patients, whether they live in urban, suburban or rural settings. According to a national survey conducted by the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) and Social Sciences Research Solutions (SSRS), nine in 10 adults say they are satisfied with the quality of their telehealth care, while eight in 10 say the healthcare issue they were primarily concerned about was resolved remotely.

Patients can feel similarly reassured about RPM.

When clinicians can monitor current, accurate patient data remotely in real time – and not just periodically see patients in person – they can adjust treatments, detect non-compliance or clinical events, and intervene as necessary, no matter those patients’ backgrounds, incomes or locales. Having access to these early diagnostics is crucial for clinicians’ long-term management of patients with chronic conditions.

More than 85% of people living in the United States now own a smart device, including those who are part of underserved communities. Huma’s ‘hospital at home’ technology helps to close the healthcare equity gap by leveraging patients’ devices to collect real-world data remotely. It connects patients and clinical teams, enables greater access to care from any location through virtual visits, improves efficiency for clinicians and outcomes for patients, and reduces readmission rates.

Through our app, clinicians use a library of modules and features to deliver care plans to patients configured for their needs. Our fully-regulated and compliant SaMD platform can also deliver targeted educational content, empowering patients to better track and manage their health. For example, it can advise patients on culturally appropriate diet and lifestyle choices prior to surgery, as well as provide education and guidance to help patients recover after a procedure.

The Huma app allows patients to see their health stats in real-time and add additional information to help better manage their health.

The Huma app allows patients to see their health stats in real-time and add additional information to help better manage their health.

Not only can digital-first care enhance patient engagement, experiences and outcomes, but emerging technologies like RPM can also help hospitals and other healthcare organizations lower healthcare costs for those lacking healthcare coverage, as well as the 8.3% of adults age 18 and above who put off medical care because they can’t afford it.

For many facilities, health professional shortages can present another barrier to healthcare equity. Our technology can help remove this barrier by improving efficiency via better coordinated care and optimized treatments. Our platform is also ready to deploy in more than 60 countries across the United States, Europe, China, Middle East, Southeast Asia and elsewhere, which can directly improve healthcare equity for patients dealing with language barriers that can hinder access to the care they need. Digital health technology has the power to help patients and clinicians transcend geography. RPM provides an opportunity for patients living in rural areas or with poor health services to access the very best treatment, care and advice from centers of excellence, regardless of where they live.

By removing the barriers to health equity, our technology can accelerate research and deliver more effective treatments to more patients faster, ultimately helping them live longer, fuller lives.

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Making an impact

3000+

3000+ hospitals and clinics supported across Huma platforms to secure the most sustainable impact for patients1

×2

Our platform can almost double clinical capacity and reduce readmission rates by >30%3

27m+

Huma's digital-first health platforms support a network of 27m patients1

1m+

Over 1 million devices have been shipped in support of our projects and we know what it takes to deploy at scale1

Winner of the 2022 Prix Galien award for digital health, widely regarded as 'pharma's Nobel prize'4

Selected as one of 'The Most Important Healthcare Design of 2021' by Fast Company5

Winner of the 2022 Prix Galien award for digital health, widely regarded as 'pharma's Nobel prize'4

Winner of the 2022 Prix Galien award for digital health, widely regarded as 'pharma's Nobel prize'4

Sources:

Article

How digital-first care is improving health equity

January 19, 2023
Article

How digital-first care is improving health equity

January 19, 2023

Huma joins digital pioneers to advance health equity in care and research

Chief Executive Officer and Founder, Dan Vahdat, is returning to the annual World Economic Forum’s main conference where he will join a panel discussion devoted to improving care for non-communicable disease and tackling health equity. Accompanied by Chief Financial and Strategy Officer, Ingeborg Oie, Dan is looking forward to connecting with other attendees to explore how Huma’s digital health platform can make healthcare more equitable, and advances proactive, predictive care.

Huma joins digital pioneers to advance health equity in care and research

Date:Wednesday, January 18, 2023
Time:4:15 - 5:15 p.m. CET
Location:Ice Village, Eisbahnstrasse 5, Davos, Switzerland
Dan will join the Digital Health Action Alliance panel at Davos to discuss Turning the Tide in Non-Communicable Disease Care Through Digital Health and Community Connection. Huma has a long history of advancing the care of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes and lung conditions. Huma’s innovative remote patient monitoring platform enables broad patient recruitment, reduces reliance on in-person clinic visits and increases health system efficiency.
*This session is open to registered Annual Meeting 2023 participants and Affiliate badge holders.

Huma is one of the first to sign the Zero Health Gaps Pledge

Huma is one of the first signatories to the Zero Health Gaps Pledge, the World Economic Forum’s Global Health Equity Network’s (GHEN) initiative. Huma supports GHEN’s ambition to build a future without disparities in health or wellbeing outcomes. Huma’s digital platform has been built on a deep clinical knowledge of complex patient needs and how people engage with technology and we are committed to ensuring our technology promotes health equity. We are proud to work with governments, hospital groups, universities, life science and technology companies to bring greater scale and impact and help all people live longer, fuller lives.

Huma at World Economic Forum

Global Innovators and Tech Pioneers
Dec 2022: Huma selected to join 100 innovative companies on a two-year journey as part of the World Economic Forum’s initiatives, activities and events, bringing their cutting-edge insight and fresh thinking to critical global discussions.
Learn more
Working Together, Restoring Trust
May 2022: With the aim to address economic, environmental, political, and social fault-lines exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, Dan Vahdat speaks at WEF annual meeting about the importance of scientific collaboration.
Learn more
Accelerating innovation and breaking new ground
October 2022: Dan joined the WEF Biotech Future Forum 2022 to discuss how start-ups are breaking new ground in biotech and changing the way we interact with the world, but also how the sector can earn trust, scale successfully and spot the brightest innovations.
Learn more
Making connections at Davos
Jan 2019: Dan attended WEF as an unofficial attendee and spoke to CNBC about the importance of meeting in-person to make connections.
Learn more

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How digital-first care is improving health equity

January 19, 2023
Media contact
A headshot of Karen Birmingham PhD
Karen Birmingham PhD
Head of PR & Communications
karen.birmingham@huma.com
Article

How digital-first care is improving health equity

January 19, 2023
Media contact
A headshot of Karen Birmingham PhD
Karen Birmingham PhD
Head of PR & Communications
karen.birmingham@huma.com

We are at a pivotal time for the healthcare industry. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have seen a sustained increase in chronic illnesses and healthcare worker shortages, as well as an increased acceptance of – and demand for – remote care and medtech-enabled solutions.

At Huma, we believe that everyone should have an opportunity to attain their highest level of health. We are proud to work with some of the biggest governments, hospital groups, universities, life science and technology companies to reduce health inequities and help people live longer, fuller lives via research and digital-first healthcare delivery.

By advancing connected care for patients and accelerating research and therapies, our award-winning technologies can help to prevent and eliminate roadblocks to health equity.

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About Huma

Huma began its journey in 2011, when the company was founded in London. Since then, Huma has grown to become a global healthcare company, spanning across multiple geographies and operating across four continents.

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