Digital health technologies: opportunities and challenges in rheumatology
Abstract
The past decade in rheumatology has seen tremendous innovation in digital health technologies, including the electronic health record, virtual visits, mobile health, wearable technology, digital therapeutics, artificial intelligence and machine learning. The increased availability of these technologies offers opportunities for improving important aspects of rheumatology, including access, outcomes, adherence and research. However, despite its growth in some areas, particularly with non-health-care consumers, digital health technology has not substantially changed the delivery of rheumatology care. This Review discusses key barriers and opportunities to improve application of digital health technologies in rheumatology. Key topics include smart design, voice enablement and the integration of electronic patient-reported outcomes. Smart design involves active engagement with the end users of the technologies, including patients and clinicians through focus groups, user testing sessions and prototype review. Voice enablement using voice assistants could be critical for enabling patients with hand arthritis to effectively use smartphone apps and might facilitate patient engagement with many technologies. Tracking many rheumatic diseases requires frequent monitoring of patient-reported outcomes. Current practice only collects this information sporadically, and rarely between visits. Digital health technology could enable patient-reported outcomes to inform appropriate timing of fac…
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Non-adherence has been proposed as one of the leading causes of delays in adopting DHTs in clinical practice.
“Non-adherence has been proposed as one of the leading causes of delays in adopting DHTs in clinical practice.137”
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- Authors
- Solomon, D. H., & Rudin, R. S.
- Affiliations
- Brigham and Women's Hospital (US)
- RAND Corporation (US)
- Corresponding author
- Solomon, Daniel H.
- Venue
- Nature Reviews Rheumatology
- Published
- 2020-07-24
- Volume
- 16
- Issue
- 9
- Pages
- 525-535
- ISSN
- 1759-4790 (ISSN-L)
- 1759-4804
- OpenAlex
- W3044662882
- Cited by
- 228
- References
- 12
- Citations by year
- 2026: 21 · 2025: 41 · 2024: 49 · 2023: 51 · 2022: 40 · 2021: 25
- FWCI
- 5.55
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Nature Reviews Rheumatology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (R18 HS026432)
- National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (P30AR072577)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Mobile Health and mHealth Applications
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Digital Mental Health Interventions
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › Health Information Management › Electronic Health Records Systems
- Keywords
- digital health technologies, rheumatology, electronic health records, virtual visits, mobile health, wearable devices, digital therapeutics, artificial intelligence, machine learning, smart design, voice assistants, patient-reported outcomes, hand arthritis, treat-to-target, patient engagement, implementation barriers, clinical care delivery
- MeSH terms
- Machine Learning, Patient Reported Outcome Measures, Artificial Intelligence, Humans, Patient Participation, Rheumatic Diseases, Rheumatology, Focus Groups, Telemedicine, Practice Guidelines as Topic, Biomedical Technology, Speech Recognition Software
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