Folsom, CA– Dr. Kate Cordell from Opeeka, a thought leader for person-centered health software solutions, was invited to speak to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) for their Community Connected Health Initiative about how health technology policy could transform community health, individual wellness, and health equity.
OSTP developed The Community Connected Health Initiative because they ‘envision a future where healthcare could be centered in one’s home or community — and [they] believe technology can be one tool to help make this happen, if it’s done right in partnership with people and communities.’ The effort explores and acts upon how innovation in science and technology can lower the barriers for all Americans to access quality healthcare and lead healthier lives by meeting people where they are in their communities.
OSTP is seeking information about: Successful models of strengthening community health through digital health technologies within the United States and abroad, barriers to uptake, need for tools and training, ideas for potential government action, and effects on health equity. Out of more than 700 companies, they selected nine companies from MassChallenge PandemicX cohort, an accelerator led by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), to present their vision on problems and policies.
“Opeeka is honored to present our vision among the nine most innovative companies leading the future of healthcare.” said Opeeka CEO and Co-founder Dr. Kate Cordell.
“As innovators, our companies have already developed technology that will address highlighted challenges, but we recognize that there needs to be policy to incentivize adoption and promote change.” continued Dr. Cordell.
The session was hosted by the Assistant Director for Community Connected Health at OSTP, Jackie Ward. Dr. Kate Cordell highlighted these two areas of focus for policy change:
Incentivize Collaboration Across Care Teams
Problem. Health care has traditionally operated in a silo based on discipline. Patients are often willing and do regularly sign off on releases to allow their care team members to collaborate on their care. Community-based health workers are an essential component of an equitable care model, but they often do not have access to the latest information about a patient in a timely fashion.
Policy. Care collaboration through sustainable mechanisms (other than fax/phone or patient go-between communication) will improve outcomes. Policy should incentivize and reimburse care workers who work together across disciplines.
Technology. Opeeka has created technology to quickly and simply consolidate relevant, neatly organized patient information for purposes of multi-discipline care team collaboration.
Develop a Framework to Validate Decision Support Models
Problem. Healthcare provider organizations should be equipped with the latest technology for pattern recognition without the fear of reinforcing biased care decisions. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and other decision support predictive models can incorporate bias if they are not intentionally designed.
Policy. There should be a framework (incorporating measures of equitability, interpretability, and traceability) developed against which AI and predictive models are validated so that healthcare organizations can confidently adopt and utilize the latest technologies that support ground-breaking personalized care advancements.
Technology. Opeeka’s AI models learn from prior patterns of care successes, taking the whole patient story, culture, context, and journey into account. By focusing on historical patterns of success, Opeeka’s decision support tools reduce bias decisions to improve equitability and deliver closest matching patients that have influenced the model for interpretability and traceability.
About Opeeka
Opeeka’s is a technology company whose products and services enable success-focused care for healthcare, mental health, behavioral health & social services. Opeeka has identified barriers and constraints in practice and have forged intelligent solutions to help bring clients, family and agencies together to reach positive outcomes more efficiently and effectively. For more information, visit https://www.opeeka.com.
About White House Office of Science and Technology Policy
The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) leads efforts across the Federal government to develop and implement sound science and technology policies and budgets, and works with the private and philanthropic sectors, state, local, tribal, and territorial governments, the research and academic communities, and other nations toward this end. Learn more at https://www.whitehouse.gov/ostp.
