Use of electronic technologies to promote community and personal health for individuals unconnected to health care systems

Ensuring health care services for populations outside the mainstream health care system is challenging for all providers. But developing the health care infrastructure to better serve such unconnected individuals is critical to their health care status, to third-party payers,to overall cost savings in public health, and to reducing health disparities. Our increasingly sophisticated electronic technologies offer promising ways to more effectively engage this difficult to reach group and increase its access to health care resources. This process requires developing not only newer technologies but also collaboration between community leaders and health care providers to bring unconnected individuals into formal health care systems. We present three strategies to reach vulnerable groups, outline benefits and challenges, and provide examples of successful programs.