Christopher Catallo, Senior Vice President, Business Development, Healthgrades shares his insights at the Connected Health Summit: Engaging Consumers. Christopher spoke on the "Moving the Digital Health Market Forward: Consumers Take Charge" panel at the 2014 event.

What is the most important next step for healthcare providers to engage consumers in digital health solutions?
Healthcare providers should engage and educate consumers about what’s at stake for their health and how technology can make a difference. If a consumer can’t easily find the right healthcare provider for their needs, for example, they can experience delayed care and prolonged health problems, not to mention the frustration of bouncing from one doctor to another. But digital solutions like Healthgrades can help consumers, patients, and referring providers find the right doctor, the right hospital, and the right care, which can make all the difference. For example, if a patient needs to have a rare, high-risk procedure such as hip replacement revision surgery, he or she should ideally find and visit a physician with experience in this specific type of surgery. Technology provides access to more detailed information today, so that it’s possible to select a doctor based on knowledge, not chance.

What will be the biggest impact for consumers as a result of digital health solutions?
Simply put, digital health solutions will enable patients to receive better care. Online Health Risk Assessment and digital health engagement tools abound. Technology today enables consumers to better understand their needs and search for the right care by specialty, condition, and procedure—dramatically increasing the chance that patients are matched with the right doctor, the right hospital, and the right care every time. Doctors with the most experience with specific conditions and procedures tend to have to better patient outcomes—and we have also seen there are dramatic differences in outcomes across our nation’s hospitals, too. For instance, if you get a hip replacement at a hospital that Healthgrades rated with one star for that procedure, you are 70% more likely to suffer a complication than if you go to a hospital with five stars for that procedure. Today’s digital health solutions can help consumers find the right care for their needs.

What will be the biggest driver for digital health market?
Consumers are playing a more active role in their healthcare than ever before, and technology is helping to drive that trend. With the Affordable Care Act, consumers are now required to be involved in decisions about their care, from selecting health plans to becoming savvy consumers purchasing healthcare services for the first time. Additionally, the advent of new online tools is revolutionizing our ability to be involved with our care and access, our ability to consume and communicate information. Although the Internet has set an enormous amount of information free, until recently it has been extremely difficult to find the specific information we need to make an informed decision with regard to a doctor or hospital. That’s now changing, and today consumers rightly demand to know they are receiving the best care possible.