UC Davis Health

Ashish Atreja

UC Davis Health and UC Davis School of Medicine have a long history of providing care to some of the most underserved communities across Northern California. We have developed innovative approaches to reducing health disparities and delivering high-quality care, including implementing some of the earliest telemedicine networks in 1992. Our digital health transformation is building on this history: to leverage technology and open innovation models of collaboration with industry to increase access and equity in healthcare.

Digital Equity: Leave no one behind

Digital health creates an exciting opportunity for us to be more collaborative and more inclusive in our care delivery. We are embarking on a digital transformation at UC Davis Health with a goal of leaving no patient, clinician, researcher or educator behind. Digital equity is commonly defined as “a condition in which all individuals and communities have the information technology capacity needed for full participation in our society, democracy and economy.” Our goal is to make sure that healthcare is part of the digital equity equation.

Leading by Collaboration

The Digital Davis Innovation and Validation Collaborative (Davis CoLab) will function as the front door for internal and external innovations and collaborations. Davis CoLab will provide structure for industry, startups, biopharma, other health systems, and payers to collaborate with UC Davis Health. We are engaging with students, patients, clinicians, and researchers to ensure we have no blind spots, and multiple viewpoints are considered. When co-designing, co-creating, and co-validating digital technologies, our goal is to offer the most user-friendly experience working with UC Davis Health.

Leading with Transparency

We plan to achieve this goal by leading with transparency. So often, the most innovative startups and industry partners view health systems as a black box. This creates inefficiencies when the opacity results in too much guesswork. By offering clear pathways for potential partners to engage with UC Davis Health, we hope to offer a more transparent, predictable roadmap for engaging with our health system.

Elevating the Digital Health IQ of our Staff, Partners, and Communities

Digital health education will play a critical role in realizing our vision of digital health equity. UC Davis Health, including UC Davis School of Medicine and the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing, along with the planned Aggie Square project, will serve as training grounds for our staff, clinicians, industry partners, and our community at large to engage in hands-on learning opportunities around digital health.

Our goal is to leave no one behind in our digital transformation. Through collaboration, transparency, and education, we plan to make Davis CoLab and UC Davis Health the leaders in digital medicine and continue our history of innovating to reduce health disparities and increase access to high-quality care for our communities.