Whole person health is a trend we’re excited to see gain more traction in the healthcare world. Today, our systems and infrastructure artificially split the mouth from the body, causing a disconnect in care and making it difficult for patients to achieve optimal health.

But with a focus on whole person health, we can optimize the entire healthcare ecosystem around patient outcomes — with patients at the center of everything.

We recently spoke with our customer Dr. Dean Fry, Chief Dental Officer at Humana, about unleashing the power of AI to further realize “whole person health.” Here’s what he said:

WHAT DOES WHOLE PERSON HEALTH ACTUALLY MEAN?

Dr. Fry: It’s reconnecting what — physiologically — has never been disconnected. Whole person health is looking at the entirety of a person, and treating them as a whole person across the continuum of care.

There are many benefits to whole person health. For example, we have a variety of patients and members, and some of them are facing health challenges, like comorbidities — such as diabetes or heart disease — cancers, or adverse birth outcomes. Being able to pull all of that information together and work towards treating the patient along the entire continuum of care can help the patient achieve optimal outcomes they wouldn’t see through a siloed approach.

Every piece of the healthcare process — whether that’s healthcare benefits, working with clinicians, or working with emerging technologies — all of that comes into play with the patient at the center of it all.

HOW ARE YOU OPERATIONALIZING “WHOLE PERSON CARE”?

Dr. Fry: First, we started out by simply educating our customers and messaging the importance of “whole person care.” We would remind them to make sure they see their dentist and their physician. They should discuss their oral health with their physician, and the same goes for their dentist.

Then, we took this a step further by providing data to our care nurses on the medical side, so they would know if a patient has been treated for oral health concerns. We call this a Member Summary. It has all of the past treatment information, including oral and ocular health, added to health summaries so that treating entities can see the same thing and speak the same language to the patient.

We’re also piloting a cross referral system for seniors at their primary care locations. Knowing the value of proximity to care, medical offices can refer their senior patients to nearby dentists, and vice versa. Ultimately, we’d like to see facilities with both dentists and doctors in the same location to make it easier for our senior patients to access critical care.

We’re putting into practice what we talk about and believe in: our patients deserve comprehensive, quality care.

HOW DOES TECHNOLOGY PLAY A ROLE IN HELPING PROVIDERS DELIVER MORE PATIENT-CENTRIC CARE?

Dr. Fry: As we look at emerging technologies, and how they help us integrate with our approach to healthcare, first and foremost we see these technologies as tools that help clinicians give the best possible care to patients.

We never take the clinician out of the mix.

Technology is a tool to aid in diagnostics, determine disease states, communicate what’s going on so that the patient understands, and so on. Essentially, it helps clinicians be better at their jobs.

On top of that, technology is capable of real-time connectivity. So, the patient knows what’s going on with their potential treatment opportunities and insurance claims when they’re still sitting in the chair at the office. We want patients to not have to worry about other things — like what’s going on with their benefits — while they’re in a clinical setting.

Technology unlocks connectivity between all parties in the healthcare ecosystem.

WE’VE ALREADY SEEN TECHNOLOGY MAKE A DRAMATIC IMPACT ON DENTAL CARE. WHERE DO YOU THINK THAT TECHNOLOGY WILL BE, 5 YEARS FROM NOW?

Dr. Fry: Even today the future is truly bright for what we can do. We mentioned real-time connectivity. We’re beginning to help facilitate care, diagnostic treatment plannings, and benefit determinations with the patient at the center. The clinician is driving these determinations using these tools, and the payer now has the whole picture while they’re still in the chair.

They say, “health is physical health,” but there’s also financial health and peace of mind. And, being able to know all of that right there in the chair, clinically, it’s important, and it’s also motivating for the patient to really understand that treatment and help take part in their own overall health.

More broadly, down the road, we see many caregivers along a patient’s health continuum. Imagine the ability to connect all caregivers in a real-time, live setting. They can instantly receive care or health updates, and be able to formulate a treatment plan and communicate with each other along the way to better serve that patient. This approach truly serves the patient and empowers the clinician to be part of the care team.

And, technology and big data is not telling us what we need to do, but it’s showcasing what’s possible and potential outcomes so that clinicians can provide care effectively.

You put all that together, and it moves us from simply a treatment mindset to a healing mindset.

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