The Time Is Now: The Case for Digital Health Innovation for the Poor and Underserved

A study of low-income patients found great interest in mobile phone–enabled health solutions

This year venture capitalists and health systems will invest more than $7 billion in digital health solutions including wearables and biosensors like Fitbits, precision medicine and genomics, mobile diagnostics, and clinical decision support via telemedicine.

Few of these resources are accessible to people with low incomes, who might stand to benefit from them most. As described by HealthTech4Medicaid, a new national nonprofit advocating for Medicaid enrollees, health care regulations restricting payment for new technologies could be a reason for this access gap. But another is lack of insight among funders, developers, and health care innovation leaders into poor Americans’ access to mobile phones and...