Technology is shaping the future of health care with the widely adopted use of virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and artificial intelligence (AI) in clinical settings to improve both the capacity and quality of care as well as to reduce costs. As one of the California Improvement Network’s priority areas, providing care differently means providers need to know what options for treatment new applications of technology offer and how they are integrated into clinical settings.

This page provides resources and tools for understanding treatment options, including the opportunities and limitations of technologies and how these technologies can support your work.

All resources are organized reverse chronologically.

• Leveraging Augmented and Virtual Reality to Provide Behavioral Health Care Differently
• Leveraging Artificial Intelligence to Provide Primary Care Differently
• Leveraging Technology for Outreach and Patient Engagement

Leveraging Augmented and Virtual Reality to Provide Behavioral Health Care Differently

The Impact of Augmented Reality on the Mental Health Therapy
Primer for making the case for AR’s place in developing the mental health field, including cybertherapy. (Mike Herzog, Thrive Global, Oct. 29, 2019)

How Virtual Reality Can Help the Global Mental Health Crisis
VR tools and therapies currently used to treat PTSD, phobias, and anxiety disorders. (Sol Rogers, Forbes, May 15, 2019)

Virtual and Augmented Reality Transforming Mental Health Therapy
Information on advancements in technology and how experts use VR/XR to help patients who have behavioral health conditions like anxiety disorders. (Constantine Theodoropulos, Informa Connect, Apr. 19, 2018)

Virtual Reality in the Assessment, Understanding, and Treatment of Mental Health Disorders
A study demonstrating the potential for VR and how the researcher’s findings show gaps in treatment and technology. (D. Freeman et al., Psychological Medicine, Oct. 2017)

Virtual Reality and Immersive Technology (VR-IT) Clinic
Overview of treatments and programs available at the VR-IT Clinic at Stanford University.

Leveraging Artificial Intelligence to Provide Primary Care Differently

Clinical Decisionmaking and Decision Support Tools

Artificial Intelligence in Primary Health Care: Perceptions, Issues, and Challenges
Insights into the perceptions, issues, and challenges that primary care physicians are encountering when using AR or AI to assist in continuity and coordination of care. (Harshana Liyanage et al., Yearbook of Medical Informatics, Aug. 2019)

Artificial Intelligence in Primary Care
Experts outline strategies to ensure emerging technologies strengthen relationships and team-based primary care while also reducing administrative burden in this 60-minute webinar. (Anil K. Jain et al., Primary Care Collaborative, May 15, 2019)

Ten Ways Artificial Intelligence Will Transform Primary Care
An environmental scan of the top 10 ways AI will impact primary care and other facets of health care. (Stephen Y. Lin, Megan R. Mahoney, and Christine A. Sinsky, Journal of General Internal Medicine, May 2019)

How Health Systems Are Using AI and Future Predictions
Noteworthy ways AI is being used in health care, how organizations could potentially use it in the future, and critical considerations for health care organizations moving forward. (Donna Marbury, Managed Healthcare Executive, Aug. 8, 2018)

Artificial Intelligence in Primary Care
An overview of the evolution and impact of AI on how physicians do their work. The article offers information on the start of AI, its anticipated uses, expected benefits, barriers to its use, and how it works in health care today. (Mary K. Pratt, Medical Economics, Aug. 1, 2018)

Digital Health Coaching

Guided Internet-Based vs. Face-to-Face Cognitive Behavior Therapy for Psychiatric and Somatic Disorders: A Systemic Review and Meta-Analysis
Research study demonstrating the comparison between internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) with face-to-face delivered CBT to determine the quality of these two platforms for offering CBT for specific psychiatric and somatic disorders. (Gerhard Andersson et al., World Psychiatry, Oct. 2014)

Predictive Analytics

Predictive Analytics in Health Care: Emerging Values and Risks
This article offers insight into the benefits of predictive analytics, the possible biases inherent in developing algorithms, and the new sources of risk emerging from lack of industry regulations. (Kylie Watson, Deloitte, July 19, 2019)

10 High-Value Use Cases for Predictive Analytics in Healthcare
How health care organizations are deploying predictive analytics — estimation of the likelihood of future outcomes based on patterns in historical data — to extract actionable, forward-looking insights from their growing data assets. (Jennifer Bresnick, Health IT Analytics, Sept. 4, 2018)

Leveraging Technology for Outreach and Patient Engagement

Supercharging the ROI of Your Care Management Programs
Article presenting a future where health conditions may be more proactively diagnosed and treated, through patient engagement and care pathways. (Oleg Bestsennyy, Jared Scharen, and Amit Shah, McKinsey & Co., Aug. 2019)

Digital Health Ecosystems: A Payer Perspective
An article focused on the improvements in the health care ecosystems and how it will help in thinking about proactive care for targeted patient groups. (Mathis Friesdorf et al., McKinsey & Co., July 2019)

Next-Generation Member Engagement During the Care Journey
Article about payers’ future approaches to care engagement and how that influences patients’ experience managing their own care. (Greg Gilbert et al., McKinsey & Co., July 2019)