The Digital Therapeutics Alliance is pleased to launch our Healthcare Payer Advisory Group. We are seeking global engagement from individuals who have experience working within healthcare decision maker and payer settings.
Advisory Group members will be invited to participate in quarterly meetings and engage in relevant Alliance initiatives. Interested individuals are encouraged to apply by September 15.
This follows the establishment of DTA’s Healthcare Clinician Advisory Group earlier this year, which brings together physicians, nurses, and pharmacists from a variety of countries and healthcare settings.
Voluntis (Euronext Paris, Ticker: VTX – ISIN: FR0004183960), a leader in digital therapeutics, today announced it has successfully completed a U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulatory review of its Oleena™ software for oncology-related symptoms management and remote patient monitoring. Oleena™ is determined as Class II medical device falling under enforcement discretion per FDA Guidance.
With an estimated 1.7 million new cases of cancer diagnosed every year in the United States, cancer management is one of the country’s leading health expenditure. Patients with cancer often experience distressing symptoms that impair daily functioning and quality of life. When manageable symptoms are left untreated or undertreated, they can lead to treatment interruptions, unscheduled ER visits and hospitalizations. New approaches based on the combination of self-management and remote monitoring have the potential to enhance the quality of care in oncology, improve clinical outcomes and reduce costs for health systems.
MobiHealthNews (Dave Muoio) — Vetting digital health products for distribution and reimbursement is another step forward for novel digital treatments hoping to stand alongside traditional biologics. Fortunately, the past few months have seen entities toeing the line between pharma and payer taking steps to validate and support specific digital health products, thereby paving the way to reimbursement and widespread adoption.
On Tuesday, July 16, Welldoc’s Chief Strategy Officer held a webinar with the Digital Therapeutic Alliance’s Megan Coder. It kicked off a series of webinars Welldoc will be hosting on the value of digital therapeutics and key lessons learned from some of the pioneers and innovators in the space. Let’s dig in with five key takeaways.
Every year, $8 billion is spent on programs promising to help people improve their health, increase workplace productivity, and reduce healthcare costs. Yet there’s growing evidence that these programs have largely failed to achieve these objectives.
Blue Shield of California (BSC), an innovative health insurer with 4.3 million members, has launched a digital therapeutics platform to phase out these programs, which Bryce Williams, Vice President, Lifestyle Medicine, calls “zombies.” The platform features a selection of about 70 digital health apps (out of more than 300,000 currently available in the Apple App Store), curated for clinical effectiveness and consumer preference.
Pharmaphorum (Richard Staines) — Germany has passed a law allowing doctors to prescribe digital apps with health benefits, which can be reimbursed by the country’s health insurance system.
The new system is made possible by the Digitalisation and Innovation Act (Digital Supply Act), drawn up in draft by federal health minister Jens Spahn and approved by the federal cabinet yesterday.
Germany is following the example of the US, which over the last few years has introduced a system where the FDA is able to approve apps that have trial evidence showing clinical benefits.
Tech Crunch (Chris Hogg) — Silicon Valley is obsessed with growth. And for digital health startups, that obsession is not only misguided, but dangerous.
The prevailing idea in the tech industry is that to succeed, you have to be ready to sell your idea, no matter how far along your idea really is. You’re encouraged to believe in your product even when there is no product to believe in.
And if you’re disrupting the mattress industry or the eyewear sector, maybe that’s okay.
But digital health startups must be held to a different and higher standard. We touch people’s lives, often when they are at their most vulnerable.
STAT News (Kate Sheridan) —
As the major digital therapeutics trade association, [the] Digital Therapeutics Alliance includes some of the nascent industry’s movers and shakers — including Pear, Akili, and Madison, Wis.-based Propeller Health, which produces devices that track how often people use a rescue inhaler — as members.
More than 30 companies in 10 different countries have joined the group; the alliance is intended to have an international perspective, Coder noted, so it doesn’t just understand issues companies may face in one particular country or with one particular regulator.
SAN FRANCISCO, June 26, 2019 /PRNewswire/ — Blue Shield of California has introduced a new digitally based lifestyle medicine and health platform that can be personalized to each of its members’ individual health needs and preferences. The nonprofit health plan’s reimagined Wellvolution is a giant leap forward from traditional wellness programs with its distinctive consumer-focused approach that helps people holistically manage their health.
San Francisco, CA; (June 26, 2019) – Omada Health today announced a $73 million round of funding led by Wellington Management Company LLP. Wellington Management is an independent investment firm with more than $1 trillion of client assets under management. Omada will use the funding to fuel the continued expansion of its digital care program, including support for those with type 2 diabetes and hypertension, as well as those dealing with anxiety and depression.