Adam Pellegrini, Vice President, Digital Health, Walgreens shares his insights at the Connected Health Summit: Engaging Consumers. Adam was a member of the Advisory Board and a keynote at the 2014 event.

What is the most important next step for healthcare providers to engage consumers in digital health solutions?
Engaging customers in the digital space is critical for future success. I suggest providers work to design an engagement strategy that leverages the organization’s unique proposition and align it with a digital intervention that drives the desired outcomes. For example, a dermatologist might design a strategy that aims to encourage patients to actively seek consultations to have a potential skin issue analyzed. The incentive to help drive this behavior could be a simple, easy-to-use technology that connects the provider to the patient, leveraging a digital health technology (think telemedicine).

What will be the biggest impact for consumers as a result of digital health solutions?
Given the overall digital revolution and popularity of wearables, consumers have become increasingly engaged with digital health solutions—in a very quantified manner. I think what will be even more impactful to this group will be the evolution of “quantified self” to “quantified outcomes.” As this area progresses, richer data and outcomes will help consumers better understand and believe the measured impact this technology has on their true health. I believe we’ll see much focus around aligning engagement to outcomes.

What will be the biggest driver for digital health market?
The consumer is the biggest driver for this market’s success. As consumers continue to uncover new ways to save time and money and reduce stress by leveraging mobile technology, this approach will become an accustomed method of healthcare delivery.