Special Episode: Digital Health's Evidence Problem
The Heart of Healthcare | A Digital Health Podcast
Navigating Trust in Digital Health
This chapter explores skepticism towards digital health tools versus traditional healthcare, emphasizing the need for rigorous testing and adaptive evaluation methods. It highlights the role of AI in enhancing clinician care and the importance of transparency, validation, and patient involvement in the development of effective digital solutions.
Most medical care is backed by varying types of evidence, yet we apply higher standards to digital health tools before they’re trusted, adopted, or reimbursed.
In this special episode, guest host Lucia Savage is joined by Dr. Vindell Washington of Verily and Dr. Aaron Carroll of AcademyHealth for a candid conversation about the uneven standards we apply to digital versus traditional care. Together, they explore how we define evidence, whose voices shape that definition, and what it takes to build trust in an AI-powered healthcare future.
We cover:
🧪 Why much of traditional care isn’t based on randomized controlled trials
🔍 What types of validation make digital tools trustworthy to patients, payers, and regulators
👩⚕️ Whether generative AI should be evaluated like other medical devices
📣 How to integrate patient perspectives into evaluating health tech
📉 The risks of requiring more proof from digital tools than from “standard” care
📊 Why transparency—not perfection—is key to building trust in innovation
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About our guests:
Lucia Savage is a nationally recognized expert in healthcare regulation, digital health, privacy, and AI. She is the Chief Privacy and Regulatory Officer at Omada Health, a virtual-first care provider that has served over one million people with evidence-based cardio-metabolic and physical therapy programs. Lucia also serves on the boards of AcademyHealth and Tidepool, and advises ClaimsHero, which uses AI to simplify healthcare claims appeals. She was previously Chief Privacy Officer at the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT under the Obama Administration, and has testified before Congress on health data and digital care. Lucia was named one of Rock Health’s Top 50 in Digital Health in 2021 and is a contributing author to two bestselling books on digital medicine and health technology.
Vindell Washington, MD, MS, is the Chief Clinical Officer and Head of Health Equity at Verily. Dr. Washington provides clinical leadership across Verily’s research and care solutions and currently leads the company’s Center of Excellence for Health Equity. Dr. Washington previously served as the CEO of Onduo, Verily’s care solution for chronic condition management. Prior to Verily, he was Chief Medical Officer and EVP at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Louisiana where he oversaw network operations and contracting, medical policy and quality, disease management, and pharmacy benefits. Dr. Washington also served as National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), where he provided high-level executive direction and leadership for ONC programs, operations, and policies. Dr. Washington also served in several capacities at Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady Health System including, President of the Health System Medical Group, Chief Medical Information Officer, and as the leader of health system quality and information technology. He received his medical degree from the University of Virginia and his MS in healthcare management from the Harvard University School of Public Health.
Dr. Aaron E. Carroll is President and CEO of AcademyHealth and a nationally recognized pediatrician, health services researcher, and science communicator. Formerly Chief Health Officer and Distinguished Professor of Pediatrics at Indiana University, his work has focused on pediatric health IT, decision analysis, and healthcare policy. He is the author of The Bad Food Bible, co-author of three books on medical myths, and a former contributor to The New York Times and The Atlantic. He also co-edits the health policy blog The Incidental Economist and hosts the YouTube channel and podcast Healthcare Triage, where he explains health research and policy to broad audiences.
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