Digital health is transforming the way care is delivered, but most physicians receive little formal training in this rapidly evolving field. To help close that gap, Included Health partnered with the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) to pilot an immersive elective internship for residents. The program aimed to help physicians-in-training apply their clinical expertise to digital health innovation while strengthening residency education and advancing collaboration between health systems and technology companies.

Three UCSF residents participated in 4- to 6-week immersive rotations at Included Health between 2019 and 2022.

• Residents worked as clinical strategy interns within the company’s virtual care and navigation teams.
• Projects addressed topics such as pediatric care management, pharmacy integration in telehealth primary care, and clinical pattern analysis.
• Program design was guided by Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) core competencies and structured mentorship from Included Health clinical leaders.

The immersive internship model benefited all participants — residents, residency programs, and digital health organizations.

• Residents gained hands-on experience applying clinical knowledge beyond traditional care settings, collaborating with data scientists, product managers, and engineers to solve real-world healthcare challenges.
• Residency programs strengthened their educational offerings and met growing interest in leadership and care delivery innovation among physicians in training.
• Digital health companies expanded their clinical capacity and gained valuable insights from residents’ up-to-date clinical experience and patient care perspectives.

Digital health internships for resident physicians can prepare a new generation of physician-leaders fluent in both clinical care and technology-driven innovation.

• Structured collaborations between residency programs and digital health companies create mutual value.
• Integrating these experiences into medical training can foster innovation, broaden physicians’ career pathways, and accelerate system-level transformation.