Digital Health (DH) Core

DIGITAL HEALTH (DH) CORE: SPECIFIC AIMS The uneven distribution of maternal and reproductive health care poses a significant challenge to addressing health gaps in the United States, particularly impacting the 44% of the population residing in rural areas in Arkansas. This problem is exacerbated by the discontinuation of hospital obstetric services in rural counties, affecting over 27 million women and infants and imposing substantial health and financial burdens. Leveraging digital health technologies presents a promising solution to enhance access and quality of maternal and reproductive health care services, especially for rural areas. However, despite numerous maternal and reproductive health challenges in Arkansas, the state has substantial resources, including a $1.4 billion investment in broadband infrastructure expansion, facilitated by the Institute of Digital Health and Innovation (IDHI) at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS). While Arkansas and UAMS have built extensive infrastructure for broadband and clinical use of digital health, there is no entity that supports digital health research. The proposed Digital Health (DH) Core within the Maternal and Reproductive Community Health Excellence (MaRCH) Center of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE) aims to capitalize on Arkansas' digital health infrastructure and IDHI's expertise. The DH Core aligns with the American Medical Association’s (AMA) definition of digital health, encompassing various technologies such as electronic health, remote patient monitoring, wearable devices, mobile health (mHealth), telehealth, and health data. The core's specific aims include establishing infrastructure for maternal and reproductive health research, providing consultation and support for digital health technologies and data, and offering training programs to implement digital health. We propose the following Aims: Aim 1: Establish the DH Core infrastructure to provide customized support for maternal and reproductive health research. Aim 2: Provide consultation and support for digital health technologies and digital health data to Research Project Leaders (RPLs), Pilot Project Investigators (PPIs), and other MaRCH COBRE members. Aim 3: Provide digital health training to RPLs, PPIs, and other MaRCH COBRE members to implement digital health. In an attempt to overcome the digital divide, the DH Core will provide infrastructure, expertise, customized consultation, support, and training to the RPLs, PPIs, and other MaRCH COBRE members. The DH Core will leverage our prior success and Arkansas’ investment in broadband to build infrastructure dedicated to supporting digital health research that will foster the success of RPLs, PPIs, and other MaRCH COBRE members who are conducting research to improve maternal and reproductive health access and outcomes.