The Community HUG :: A World Without Health Inequities

Health inequities are a problem for us all — the burden of disparities in health adversely affects our nation’s children, business efficiency and competitiveness, economic strength, standing in the world, and our national character and commitment to justice and fairness of opportunity. The time is now to STOP doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. START 2020 right by supporting DHIT in laying the critical infrastructure that can drive community transformation and reduce health inequities.

3 ways the DHIT Community HUG supports under-resourced communities:

• Health Architects are specially trained caregivers and healthcare professionals who engage in face-to-face conversations grounded in empathy mapping and human sciences to collect social, environmental and behavioral determinants of health data, design digitally-enabled models of care, and navigate individuals to an ecosystem of resources that best meet their needs.
• Health Utility Grid is a scalable community cloud-based data infrastructure that is HIPAA compliant, interoperable, and sits on a blockchain-enabled framework to facilitate the collection, storage, and secure sharing of data with advanced analytics for education, research, and health improvement purposes.
• Innovation Sprintsbring together the myriad of community stakeholders from across the digital health ecosystem (including patients, clinicians, researchers, administrators, businesses, technologists, investors, and entrepreneurs) to drive human-centered and agile product development around high impact problems in healthcare through a series of design thinking workshops.

3 ways your organization can support a world without health inequities:

• Funding – As a non-profit organization, DHIT relies on funding from institutional grants, corporate sponsorship and our Industry Council members who invest resources and expertise in return for market access and insights, and emerging talent and technologies. Use of funds is determined by our Advisory Board, comprising national and international thought leaders from the clinical research and medical education fields. Fund DHIT and show your commitment to community wellbeing!
• Data – As a central resource for communities, the DHIT Health Utility Grid is powered by the Determinants of Health that fall under five broad categories: Environment (pollution, location, exposure to firearms, allergens, etc.); Medical Care ( access to healthcare, quality of healthcare, patient engagement, health literacy, etc.); Genetics and Biology (genetics, body structure, body function, etc.), Individual behavior ( psychological assets, negative mood, and effects, physical activity, sleep patterns, etc.); and Social Circumstances (social connectedness, social status, culture/tradition, race, and ethnicity, etc.) Contribute to our data sandbox to build a complete picture of our community!
• Talent – DHIT is powered by people who have an entrepreneurial mindset that discover first and evolve over time. We are trained in emerging technologies in order to maximize the collection of data and engage in an individual’s determinants of health. We are empathetic and unbiased: we act as a trusted companion to help communities and individuals reach their best selves. Be the change you seek, join the movement and volunteer now!

DHIT cannot do this alone. This vision requires the alignment and collaboration of stakeholders across the ecosystem, including patients, healthcare providers, researchers, local employers, and local government.

Sincerely,
Michael Levy
President, DHIT

PS – Many thanks to Donald Leblanc and Charline Kempter, from the Quebec Government Office in Atlanta, for their hospitality this week and their support of DHIT today and overtime.

Here’s to a future where care advancements and innovations are sourced from a global marketplace, and are available and accessible to every community to fill local gaps and support their health transformation.