Current Perspectives on the U.S. Digital Health System for Sustainable Health Care: a Narrative Review
Manijeh Berenji, Mollie R. Cummins, Ram Gouripeddi, Titus K. Schleyer, Jonathan Suh, Betty VillantaySummary
This narrative review explores the role of digital health technologies in addressing climate change through four thematic pillars: mitigation, adaptation, insight, and equity. The review aims to identify current perspectives about ongoing efforts, and high-value opportunities for leveraging digital innovations to enhance healthcare sustainability and resilience, primarily focusing on the U.S. healthcare system.
We conducted a narrative literature review to examine the intersections between digital health technologies and climate change strategies. We searched PubMed and Google Scholar databases using keywords including “climate change”, “digital health”, “telemedicine”, “mobile health”, and “sustainability.” We included both peer-reviewed and grey literature about climate change mitigation, adaptation, insights, and health equity.
Digital health technologies—such as telemedicine, mobile health apps, remote patient monitoring, electronic health records, and AI-driven analytics—offer promising pathways to decarbonize healthcare, enhance disaster preparedness, improve surveillance of climate-sensitive health outcomes, and promote health equity. However, the potential benefits are moderated by challenges, including infrastructure disparities, energy demands of digital systems, risks of greenwashing, and inconsistent real-world outcomes. Emerging initiatives emphasize developing sustainable frameworks and cross-sector collaborations to address these limitations.
Digital health offers significant opportunities for advancing sustainable healthcare and climate resilience. However, achieving its full potential will require critical evaluation of environmental impacts, strategic investment in resilient infrastructure, and policies that ensure equitable access to technologies. Future work must integrate climate considerations into digital health innovation to build a more sustainable and inclusive healthcare system.