Sara Horst MD, MPH, FACG, discussed how she helps make the electronic medical record more accessible and easier for clinicians to use within her roles as ambulatory director of VUMC Telehealth and Specialty Pharmacy and associate vice chair of Digital Health Operations of the Department of Medicine.
People have varying definitions of what exactly digital health is, but for Sara Horst MD, MPH, FACG, it encompasses all the technologies that might be used to engage patients in their health. Horst is an associate professor at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) within the division of gastroenterology, hepatology, and nutrition. She is also the ambulatory director of VUMC Telehealth and Specialty Pharmacy and associate vice chair of Digital Health Operations of the Department of Medicine.
Transcript
Overall, what do you feel are the benefits of digital health?
Probably the first thing to think about is what is digital health? You know, it's a bit of a newer term. In my standpoint—I think people might have different ideas of exactly what it means—but, for me, digital health is a pretty broad term. To me, it's all technologies that we might use to engage a patient in their health and well-being. So, this could be telehealth, it could be digital therapeutics, or remote patient monitoring, and maybe even things like, you know, artificial intelligence or virtual reality.
I think this is important, because we know patients are increasingly engaging in telehealth in different forms. Just as an example, for telehealth, one report noted that the telehealth market was measuring in the billions of dollars in 2022 and had an expected compound annual growth rate of something like 40% over the next 5 years. So, I don't think this is going away.
One of the things that I think about in my role as a leader in digital health at our institution is to also think about how the clinician interplays with that. For us, a lot of that is the electronic medical record (EMR). So, one of my jobs that I want to think about is, how can we make that more accessible and easier for clinicians to use? I mean, when you think about it, clinicians spend the majority of their time on the computer documenting within the EMR; that can be useful, but it can be really cumbersome and lead to frustration and, you know, “burnout.”
So, I think as clinicians, as clinician leaders, and as hospital systems, we really need to be spending more time thinking about those workflows and trying to make the EMR work for the clinician as well as working for the patient.
This transcript has been lightly edited for clarity.
What Will AI in Health Care Look Like in the Future?
July 10th 2025Artificial intelligence (AI) transforms oncology by enhancing clinical decision-making, improving patient outcomes, and shaping future health care training, as discussed by experts at Tennessee Oncology's “Tech Innovations in Community Oncology."
Read More
Laundromats as a New Frontier in Community Health, Medicaid Outreach
May 29th 2025Lindsey Leininger, PhD, and Allister Chang, MPA, highlight the potential of laundromats as accessible, community-based settings to support Medicaid outreach, foster trust, and connect families with essential health and social services.
Listen
AI Tool Shows Promise for Faster, More Accurate Autism and ADHD Diagnoses
July 8th 2025Participants performed touchscreen-based reaching tasks while wearing wireless motion sensors, which recorded linear acceleration, angular velocity, and roll-pitch-yaw orientation at millisecond resolution.
Read More
Inside the Center's MDD Value Model and Its Use of Dynamic Pricing
May 13th 2025Larragem Raines, MS, of the Center for Innovation & Value Research, discusses the organization's major depressive disorder (MDD) open-source value model, dynamic pricing, and the future role of artificial intelligence in care.
Listen
Driving Value via Outcomes-Based Pricing and EHR Interoperability: Tyler Sandahl, PharmD
July 7th 2025Tyler Sandahl, PharmD, a clinical pharmacist at Mayo Clinic, discussed the complexities of alternative payment models for chimeric antigen receptor T-cell and bispecific therapies and the need for improved data sharing in cancer care.
Read More
How AI Can Address the Troubled Business Model in Oncology
July 7th 2025Artificial intelligence (AI) will transform community oncology, addressing workforce shortages and reimbursement challenges while enhancing patient care and operational efficiency, discussed speakers at Tennessee Oncology's “Tech Innovations in Community Oncology."
Read More