Guide to offer comprehensive digital health solutions for pediatric care

NEW YORK, Dec. 18, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Summus, the leading virtual health company focused in specialty care, announced a new collaboration with the Digital Medicine Society (DiMe) and Boston Children’s Hospital to create a comprehensive guide to improve digital health solutions for children. The Playbook: Pediatric Digital Medicine initiative will address the need for ongoing advancement and care optimization for children by empowering providers, payers, product developers, and biopharma to advance streamlined and scalable innovations in pediatrics.

This multistakeholder effort aims to close the disparity gap in children’s healthcare through access to technological advancements centered on children’s unique needs, delivering ethical, effective, equitable and safe care. A recent Rock Health report addressed existing inequities in pediatric digital health, suggesting that innovation and investment in children — the most vulnerable in our population — are lagging. 

The project is another important collaboration for Summus and Boston Children’s Hospital. Summus works closely with Boston Children’s innovation team and physician facility to advance and scale specialist expertise to reach more patients globally. Summus also powers Boston Children’s online second opinion program, helping more families access the hospital’s world class expertise and specialist care.

The Playbook: Pediatric Digital Medicine will:

• Provide a comprehensive guide to advance digital solutions with long-term financial viability to improve the lives of every child.
• Define the market opportunity for pediatric digital medicine products and establish best practices for product development and deployment.
• Address the unique ethical considerations accompanying children’s use of digital medicine products.

“We take great pride in our involvement with this remarkable project dedicated to the transformation of pediatric specialty care,” expressed Mary Mulcare, MD, FACEP, Chief Medical Officer at Summus. “We believe that digital tools play a critical role in alleviating the shortage of pediatric subspecialists and ensuring every child, everywhere, has access to the medical care and guidance they need. The Playbook: Pediatric Digital Medicine will serve as an important resource, providing essential information for healthcare providers, hospitals, and industry partners.”

“Leveraging digital solutions is necessary to improve pediatric healthcare. Clinicians are eager to integrate digital solutions that account for pediatric needs into their practice, but without the right resources and implementation strategies, they face significant challenges delivering these tools into the hands of patients and their families,” said Ian Miller, Program Lead at the Digital Medicine Society. “DiMe is proud to work with Summus and other leaders to create The Playbook: Pediatric Digital Medicine to provide stakeholders with the resources they need to ethically, effectively, equitably, and safely develop and deploy digital health solutions that improve lives of pediatric patients.”

For additional information about The Playbook: Pediatric Digital Medicine, please visit: https://dimesociety.org/the-playbook-pediatric-digital-medicine-edition/.

About Summus
Summus is the leading virtual health company, founded with a mission to restore human connection in healthcare. Our proprietary marketplace model empowers patients, families, caregivers and physicians to share and access high quality specialty expertise — across all health questions, at any point in the journey. With a curated network of more than 5,100 renowned specialists from top academic medical centers, and more than 2.1 million members around the world, Summus serves as the clinical front door to access trusted, high quality, healthcare expertise, and to support people in the moments that matter most.

Summus. Better access. Better decisions. Better outcomes. Across the continuum of care. Learn more: http://www.summusglobal.com

About Digital Medicine Society
DiMe is a global non-profit and the professional home for all members of the digital medicine community. Together, we tackle the toughest digital medicine challenges, develop clinical-quality resources on a technology timeline, and deliver these actionable resources to the field via open-source channels and educational programs.

About Boston Children’s Hospital
Boston Children’s Hospital is ranked the #1 children’s hospital in the nation by U.S. News & World Report and is a pediatric teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School. Home to the world’s largest research enterprise based at a pediatric medical center, its discoveries have benefited children and adults since 1869. Today, 3,000 researchers and scientific staff, including 11 members of the National Academy of Sciences, 24 members of the National Academy of Medicine and 10 Howard Hughes Medical Investigators comprise Boston Children’s research community. Founded as a 20-bed hospital for children, Boston Children’s is now a 485-bed comprehensive center for pediatric and adolescent health care. For more, visit our Answers blog and follow us on social media @BostonChildrens, @BCH_Innovation, Facebook and YouTube.

SOURCE Summus