Digital Health Day Promotes Innovation and Responsibility
Post Date: May 23, 2025 | Publish Date:
Digital Health Day: Innovations Impacting Care was Cincinnati Children’s second annual event focused on how technology is reshaping care. From remote monitoring breakthroughs to AI-powered predictions, speakers emphasized that the future of medicine is digital—but must remain thoughtful and human-centered. The day opened with hands-on demonstrations of digital health tools and continued with hybrid pediatric grand rounds, individual talks and panel discussions.
The Promise of Digital Health Today
In a Pediatric Grand Rounds presentation, titled “From the Kiddie Pool to the Deep End: Digital Health in Pediatrics,” Mark Lo, MD, MS, medical director, Telehealth and Digital Health, Seattle Children’s Hospital, set the tone for the day. He explored digital health’s transformative potential in pediatric care including several promising digital health innovations. From symptom self-management and monitoring apps to virtual reality treatments for amblyopia, digital therapeutics offer innovative treatment approaches now with a promise for massive possibility in the future.
But Lo tempered the excitement by encouraging thoughtful caution. “We’re trying to close real, painful gaps in pediatric care.” He emphasized that these tools cannot replace clinicians and urged the audience to maintain a critical lens, pursue robust evidence, and prioritize tools that solve urgent problems rather than chase trends.
Designing with Empathy: Technology That Listens
In the panel that followed, titled “Using Digital Health to Impact the Patient and Family Experience,” Cincinnati Children’s experts emphasized that digital innovation must be designed around people—not simply delivered to them. Ryan Adcock, senior director, Patient and Family Experience, emphasized that involving families from the beginning is not just good practice, but essential for meaningful design. “We need to involve families from the start,” he said. “Not just to check a box, but to give them the power to disrupt traditional thinking.”
Panelists discussed the importance of tailoring tools to patients’ lived experiences. Andy Schwieter, director, Language Access Services, emphasized that effective digital health solutions must be language-inclusive, culturally sensitive, and adaptable. “What works for one patient may not work for another,” he explained, pointing to the need for nuanced, flexible design.
Bhavna Mehta, Data and Analytics Strategy AVP, highlighted the potential of advanced technologies—such as digital twins and modern data architectures—to create personalized, real-time care. Meanwhile, Jose Cruz, APRN, CNP, clinical manager, Psychiatry, noted that the pandemic rapidly accelerated telehealth adoption, permanently changing how care is delivered. “Virtual care has dramatically improved access, especially for patients in rural areas,” he said.
Lisa Crosby, APRN, DNP, clinical director, Primary Care School Based Health Centers, took a generational perspective, arguing that early exposure to digital health tools can normalize healthcare access across diverse communities. “We’re helping normalize healthcare across different cultures,” she said, suggesting that digital fluency could play a long-term role in improving outcomes.
Clinicians as Pioneers: Reimagining Care at the Front Lines
In lightening style talks, Cincinnati Children’s innovators highlighted how technology can bridge gaps in patient care while maintaining a deeply human approach.
Yoori Noh, MSH, ARPN, nurse practitioner, Diabetes Center, presented the success of e-visits in diabetes care. Her team’s implementation of digital follow-ups led to a two percent reduction in hemoglobin A1C and an 11 percent improvement in the percentage of time patients kept their blood glucose within target range. These improvements came alongside reduced call volumes and better access for families. “E-visits have really helped fill in the gap and prevent unnecessary visits,” Noh said, positioning digital follow-up as both efficient and empowering.
Carrie Romano, DNP, RN, Patient Services VP, urged attendees to think bigger. “Imagine a world where nurses use AI to predict patients’ deterioration hours before it happens,” she said. Romano emphasized that nurses are not just consumers of innovation—they are integrators, decision-makers, and visionaries. She pointed to emerging tools like virtual urgent care, remote monitoring platforms, and simulation-based training environments as examples of how technology can elevate care when clinicians lead the charge.
Ryan Moore, MD, MSc, chief emerging technologies officer, offered a creative case study in patient engagement. Using digital avatars and a partnership with the Cincinnati Reds, he redesigned cardiac rehabilitation as an interactive, personalized experience—one that meets children where they are and makes recovery more motivating. The program is a reminder that innovation does not just save lives; it can restore joy, agency, and connection.
Access by Design: Who Gets to Benefit?
The final panel of the day tackled a difficult but necessary question: Who is being left behind in the digital health revolution?
Panelists agreed that digital access must be recognized as a social determinant of health. Ndidi Unaka, MD, MEd, chief health equity officer, Stanford Children’s, and former medical director, Quality Improvement and Analytics, Population Health at Cincinnati Children’s, asserted: “If we don’t treat digital access as a fundamental health issue, we risk reinforcing the very disparities we’re trying to close.”
Stormee Williams, MD, MBA, senior VP, chief health equity officer, Children’s Health, outlined several barriers facing underserved communities, including limited access to broadband, high costs of technology, and a lack of representation in digital health research. But rather than stopping at critique, the panel offered actionable paths forward.
Jeff Anderson, MD, MPH, MBA, senior VP and chief population health officer, Cincinnati Children’s, advocated for community co-creation: developing tools with patients and parents, not just for them. “If you don’t have parents and patients at the table,” he said, “you’re not going to get all the answers.”
Christina Olson, MD, digital health curriculum director, Colorado Children’s, emphasized that the field must move beyond feasibility to ask: What should we build? What actually improves outcomes? What is cost-effective, scalable, and just?
Mark Lo, MD, MS, medical director, Digital Health and Telehealth, Seattle Children’s, returned to emphasize that equal access cannot be an afterthought—it must be a leadership priority. That means investing time, resources, and political capital, even if it requires recalibrating institutional success metrics. As Williams concluded, equal access does not happen by accident. It takes intention, collaboration, and persistent champions willing to push past inertia.
The Road Ahead: Where Innovation Must Go
Throughout the day, several recurring themes emerged for the future of pediatric digital health. Early intervention remains a top priority—particularly in physical development, behavioral health and preventive care. Participants also stressed the need for smarter strategies to support adolescents transitioning into adult care, and greater integration between schools and health systems as points of care.
But the most powerful takeaway was this: technology alone cannot transform healthcare. People can. From nurses deploying AI tools, to families shaping new digital platforms, to leaders prioritizing equal access in design—true innovation requires collaboration across boundaries.
As the digital frontier expands, Cincinnati Children’s is charting a course defined by evidence, empathy and shared purpose—ensuring that innovation serves not just the system, but every child and family it touches.
• Watch Mark Lo’s Pediatric Grand Rounds presentation.
• Watch the recording of Digital Health Day talks and panel discussions.
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The Research Horizons blog features news and insights about the latest discoveries and innovations developed by the scientists of Cincinnati Children's. This blog does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.
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