b'Sea Change Straight Ahead4. Strategic application of technology. The discussion of healthcare technology is a moot point if not applied strategically. The application of digital medicine gives health systems an unrivaled opportunity to address the social determinants of health and close patient care gaps in their communities. Although healthcare technology has taken quantum leaps since the 1980s, underserved patients still lack access to digital resources and timely primary care. If the 75 million people on Medicaid had access to affordable wearable technology through health systems, billions of dollars and thousands of lives would be saved yearly. The initial investment in technology would be significant; however, the dollars and lives saved adequately measuring chronic disease progression would yield a far higher return. Imagine if maternal care for low to medium risk patients could be done from home and keep pregnant patients away from facilities full of sick people. The strategic application of technology will make these actions a reality. 5. Train empathy, communication, and self-awareness. Currently, medical schools are starting to transition from an exclusively technical skill focus to promoting self-awareness, empathy, and cultural competence. The integration of emotional intelligence (EI) into the curriculum, hopefully, will bolster the understanding of health disparities and the intricate nature of patient differences. The impact of healthcare miscommunication in 2015 was 2,000 human lives and $1.7 billion. Decreasing miscommunication and implicit bias in providing health services to underserved populations starts with communication. In contrast to knowing the right answer, these components integrated into the strategic application of technology transforms the question. The question instead is: How does the health system listen to and interact with people to deliver patient-centered care?Through recent experiments, empathy is measured, taught, and improved by focused training. Weaving technical skills, technology, and EI together will not be easy; however, the future of patient-centered care that is affordable and accessible depends upon it.SPRING 2021 37'