Fourteen organizations representing providers, payers, consumer technology companies and employers are teaming up to cut through the noise and raise higher standards for finding digital health solutions that work and are worth the investment.
The new Digital Health Collaborative, supported by the Peterson Health Technology Institute, brings together provider groups, purchasers and end users and initial work will focus on pulling together a national purchaser survey, grantmaking and convenings, the organization said.
The Peterson Health Technology Institute formed in July 2023, armed with $50 million in funding, to evaluate digital health technologies and help cut through the hype to identify innovations that actually benefit patients. PHTI focused on providing independent, evidence-based assessments of emerging products, something that is currently lacking in the market.
The organization plans to focus on research, grant funding and regular convenings to advance the development and scaling of evidence-based, efficient and equitable digital health solutions to improve outcomes and lower costs.
The Digital Health Collaborative membership include heavy hitters in the healthcare and consumer industries such as AARP, the Alliance for Connected Care, the American Telemedicine Association, America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) and the American Medical Association.
Other members organizations include the Digital Medicine Society, HLTH Foundation, the International Consortium for Health Outcomes Measurement, the National Committee for Quality Assurance, the Consumer Technology Association, the Digital Therapeutics Alliance, the Innovation and Value Initiative, the National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions and RockHealth.org.
“The Digital Health Collaborative is raising the bar for guidance, research, and resources that can accelerate the adoption of solutions that work and are worth it,” said Meg Barron, managing director of engagement and outreach at PHTI. “From a first-of-its-kind survey of digital health purchasing to making grants that advance evidence efforts, the Digital Health Collaborative is moving the industry forward at a critical crossroads.”
Digital health technologies are needed more than ever, but despite progress, purchasers are overwhelmed with determining the solutions that can best meet their needs, Digital Health Collaborative leaders said.
The organization says it will share collective learnings and collaborate on needed research and programs to help raise confidence and adoption in digital health.
The organization also will offer a research and impact fund for aligned research and programs. The first grant was provided to the Digital Medicine Society for its integrated evidence plans for digital health products project to help developers align digital health products with purchaser evidence requirements.
The Collaborative says its work parallels and is separate from PHTI’s independent evaluations that assess the clinical benefits and economic impact of digital health technologies, as well as their effects on health equity, user experience, privacy and security.