Strengthening digital health equity by balancing techno-optimism and techno-skepticism through implementation science

Abstract

As result of the pandemic-related increase in telehealth and the 21st Century Cures Act, technology is playing an increasing role in healthcare. This has led to organizational investments in the “digital front door” of healthcare. The promise that these technologies can revolutionize care by better connecting us to our patients, overcoming analog barriers to care, and addressing health disparities is grounded in “techno-optimism.” We advocate for organizational leaders to inform their digital health equity strategies with a balanced measure of “techno-skepticism”, grounded in implementation science, that can ensure alignment between health technology and health equity.