Physicians require health care technologies that integrate with practice operations in a smooth and integrated way. Several AMA initiatives aim to help physicians implement, optimize and sustain digital health innovations in their practice.
Implementing and optimizing digitally enabled care
The Digital Health Implementation Playbook series is a set of resources for health care professionals seeking to implement digital health innovations across various modalities and practice settings. The series is comprised of four separate Playbooks, each focusing on a different aspect of digital health implementation:
- Remote Patient Monitoring Playbook
- Telehealth Playbook
- Patient Access Playbook
- Telehealth Clinical Education Playbook
By leveraging these Playbooks, physicians can lead the way in using digital tools to improve patient outcomes, reduce costs and enhance patient engagement. Additionally, the AMA created the Telehealth Quick Guide to support physicians, practices, and health systems navigate telehealth during and post-public health emergency.
The AMA STEPS Forward® Innovation Academy offers a self-guided curriculum designed to support physicians, practices and health systems in optimizing and sustaining telehealth and digital care modalities at their organizations. The program offers a range of regularly updated resources to provide the most current and relevant information to participants, including case studies, webinars and more.
The interactive nature of the program allows participants to engage in peer-to-peer learning and virtual discussions with experts in the field, providing opportunities to ask questions, share experiences, and collaborate on solutions to common challenges.
The Future of Health Report (PDF) takes these resources a step further to explore and define the digital health disconnect, offer a blueprint to optimize digitally enabled care and share stakeholder opportunities to optimize and leverage digital care through case examples from various organizations.
The State of Health at Home Models: Key Considerations and Opportunities offers a comprehensive guide that outlines the concept and benefits of delivering care to patients in their home environments.
Measuring the value of virtual care
The AMA Return on Health framework, developed in 2021 in collaboration with Manatt Health, aims to define and measure the value of digitally enabled care for patients, clinics, payers and society.
The framework seeks to define the various ways in which virtual care programs can and are generating value. This includes examining how telehealth can improve patient outcomes, reduce costs and improve access to care. The framework additionally aims to demonstrate how telehealth is being used today and how it can be used in various practice settings to measure the value of virtual care more precisely and holistically. Moreover, the framework highlights opportunities for physicians to realize the full potential of digitally enabled care in the years to come.
By leveraging these resources, physicians, practices and health systems can work towards a future of health care that is more equitable, accessible and patient-centered.
Electronic Health Records
Electronic health records (EHR)—the digital version of a patient's information—are secure, transferable records with incredible potential to improve the care physicians provide for patients. Learn how health information exchanges allow health care practitioners to share patient data electronically to support patient care nationwide securely.
The AMA partnered with MedStar Health's National Center for Human Factors in Healthcare to develop an evaluation framework on the usability of EHRs. See how 20 common EHRs fared in the evaluation.
Knowing the impact that EHRs can have on patient safety, the AMA, MedStar Health's National Center for Human Factors in Healthcare and The Pew Charitable Trusts created a framework (PDF) with more rigorous test cases to support physicians and practices in ensuring their products work as intended pre- and post-implementation.
Through its Electronic Health Record (EHR) Use Research Grant program, the AMA has invested in research to build the evidence base on the validity and value of EHR use metrics. Learn more.
