How can digital health measure and communicate its impact on health systems and populations?

1 What is market access and why does it matter?

Market access is the process of ensuring that patients and health care providers can access and afford the best available health technologies and interventions. It involves a complex interaction of stakeholders, such as payers, regulators, health technology assessment (HTA) agencies, policy makers, and clinicians. Market access is crucial for digital health innovation and adoption, as it determines whether a digital health solution can reach its intended users and achieve its desired outcomes.

2 What are the challenges for digital health in market access?

Digital health faces a number of challenges when it comes to market access, including a lack of clear and consistent definitions and classifications of digital health solutions, standardized and validated methods and frameworks for assessing their clinical and economic value, alignment and coordination among stakeholders, and trust and acceptance of digital health solutions among patients and health care providers. These issues can create confusion, limit the comparability and credibility of evidence, result in fragmentation, duplication of efforts, and resources, and ultimately affect the adoption and adherence of digital health interventions.

4 How can digital health measure its impact on health systems and populations?

Digital health needs to define and operationalize relevant outcomes and indicators to measure its impact on health systems and populations. These outcomes and indicators can include health outcomes such as mortality, morbidity, and quality of life, as well as health system outcomes like access, equity, efficiency, and quality. Additionally, digital health should employ appropriate methods and tools to collect, analyze, and interpret data from various sources. Examples of these methods and tools include real-world data and real-world evidence (e.g., electronic health records, registries, claims, surveys), digital biomarkers (e.g., physiological signals), digital endpoints (measurable outcomes derived from digital biomarkers or other sources), and digital twins (virtual representations or simulations of individuals or populations).

5 How can digital health communicate its impact on health systems and populations?

To communicate its impact on health systems and populations, digital health needs to develop and deliver clear and compelling value propositions that address the needs and expectations of different stakeholders and decision makers. When crafting a value proposition, it’s important to identify and segment the target audience to understand their priorities, preferences, and pain points. Additionally, you should define the problem or gap that the digital health solution aims to solve or fill, as well as demonstrate the evidence and benefits of the digital health solution using quantitative and qualitative data. Moreover, you should highlight the unique selling points and competitive advantages of your digital health solution, such as innovation or personalization. Finally, call for action or engagement by requesting feedback, inviting collaboration, or offering trial or demonstration.