Why Digital Health Pilots Fail: UC Davis Health's Dr. Reshma Gupta

A lot of digital health pilots do not fail because the idea is bad. They fail because the care model, workflow, staffing, and financial design were never fully built.

This episode features a presentation from the ROI-Centered Care Summit, produced by Bright Spots Ventures in partnership with TytoCare and the American Telemedicine Association (ATA).

In this episode, Reshma Gupta, MD, Chief of Population Health and Accountable Care at UC Davis Health, shares why so many AI and digital health pilots stall, and what it takes to redesign them into models that are operationally viable, financially sustainable, and built to scale.

Using UC Davis Health's hypertension remote patient monitoring program as a case study, Reshma walks through what broke in the original pilot, including slower ramp-up, unclear vendor role design, returned device logistics, and delayed billing capture. She then explains how her team rebuilt the program into a 6-month model with clearer workflows, stronger local clinical support, and a more sustainable financial structure.

You'll hear how UC Davis:

• Redesigned RPM with a local MA, RN, pharmacist, clinician support, and vendor MA model

• Built a 6-month patient journey with education, medication review, and monthly nurse and pharmacy visits

• Improved blood pressure outcomes from 146/81 pre-enrollment to 126/73 at program completion

• Reframed success around workflow fit, patient engagement, billing discipline, and ROI

Key topics include why pilots fail, how to match the model to the right patient population, the importance of role clarity and billing optimization, and what health systems should think through before launching the next digital health program.

If you are a health system leader, population health executive, digital health leader, or care transformation strategist trying to move beyond pilots and into sustainable performance, this episode offers a practical blueprint grounded in real-world lessons.

Link to Dr. Reshma Gupta's Presentation:

Bio: Dr. Reshma Gupta is a transformative healthcare executive with experience leading large-scale healthcare transformation across complex health systems and national payment reform initiatives– dedicated to innovation in population health, affordable healthcare, and social justice. With expertise in clinical and operational transformation, digital strategy, and policy, she has consistently driven high impact initiatives.

Through the University of California Office of the President, she co-develops system-wide population health strategy across multiple campuses, social needs integration, and high-risk patient management initiatives including tech-enabled care and keeping patients healthier at home. As Chief of Population Health and Accountable Care at University of California Davis Health, Dr. Gupta oversees the enterprise-wide population health and accountable care portfolio to operationalize and modernize care pathways across inpatient and outpatient settings, standing up quality and equity improvement systems, and launching digital health and AI platforms. Nationally, she has advised the CMS Innovation Center on primary care transformation and advanced payment models and currently serves as an advisor to state and federal agencies on affordability and health system delivery reform. Connect with Dr. Reshma Gupta: https://www.linkedin.com/in/reshma-gupta-md-mshpm/

Thank You to Our Episode Partner, TytoCare.

TytoCare enables health systems and plans to deliver high-quality remote exams anytime, anywhere. Their FDA-cleared devices and AI-powered diagnostic platform support virtual specialty care, school-based programs, and home health models, reducing unnecessary ED visits and improving patient experience.

To learn more, visit tytocare.com.

Schedule a Meeting with a Senior Leader at TytoCare:

To explore how TytoCare can help your organization expand virtual specialty access and improve care coordination, reach out to jtenzer@brightspotsventures.com to schedule a meeting.

About Bright Spots Ventures:

Bright Spots Ventures exists to help healthcare organizations accelerate the adoption of what's actually working.

Healthcare does not suffer from a lack of innovation. It suffers from slow adoption, fragmented learning, and limited trust between stakeholders. For example, one health plan or provider may solve a major operational or clinical challenge while others spend the next 5–10 years rediscovering the same answer.

We close that gap by creating trusted environments where health plans, providers, and innovators can share practical strategies, operational lessons, and scalable models that drive measurable improvement.

Through the Bright Spots in Healthcare podcast, leadership councils, executive roundtables, curated events, and strategic advisory work, we help organizations build credibility, strengthen strategic relationships, and accelerate the spread of proven ideas across healthcare.