Digital Health Tools Expanding to Support Patient Care, Reports IQVIA
Despite a decline in venture funding for digital health companies over the past two and a half years, digital health products and solutions are rapidly evolving to enhance patient diagnosis, treatment, and monitoring. Increasingly, these solutions are focused on specific diseases, offering greater commercial appeal as developers create products that add value for providers, integrate seamlessly with health systems, and leverage innovations like AI to personalize care and reduce provider workloads.
The range of digital health products has also broadened, with health assessment tools such as digital diagnostics, sensor-based measures, and remote patient monitoring solutions now complementing digital therapeutics and consumer health apps to improve both personal and clinical care. These insights come from the IQVIA Institute for Human Data Science’s new report, Digital Health Trends 2024: Implications for Research and Patient Care.
Digital health technologies continue to evolve, offering more tools that are enhancing patient diagnosis, treatment, and monitoring. With 337,000 digital health apps, more than 360 software-based digital therapies, and 103 digital diagnostics now commercially available, the landscape of digital health is expanding rapidly. Alongside this, the number of AI/ML-enabled mobile and point-of-care devices is increasing, further pushing the capabilities of digital health tools. The IQVIA Institute for Human Data Science’s latest report, Digital Health Trends 2024: Implications for Research and Patient Care, highlights the growth and innovation in this sector, showcasing how these technologies are becoming integral to healthcare delivery.
“The landscape of digital health has evolved over the past two years, yielding new products that are more commercially viable and meet the needs of stakeholders across a broadening set of uses,” stated Murray Aitken, executive director of the IQVIA Institute for Human Data Science. “Digital health tools now support both patients and providers as they move from diagnosis to treatment and disease monitoring, with their scope expanding as new health assessment tools such as digital diagnostics have joined more mature digital therapies, accelerating care and closing gaps to improve health outcomes.”
Key Highlights of Digital Health Trends
Digital Health Apps
There are now 337,000 digital health apps on the market, with disease-specific apps being a rapidly growing category. While many apps continue to focus on mental health, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases, new apps are emerging to aid individuals with visual impairments, auditory issues, and dermatologic conditions. Since the launch of app stores in 2008, over 1 million digital health apps have been created, but two-thirds of them are no longer actively marketed, reflecting a high level of churn in the market. However, apps with stronger clinical evidence have seen higher usage and quicker uptake, demonstrating that clinical validation is crucial for commercial success.
Digital Therapeutics (DTx)
The approval and adoption of digital therapeutics have grown significantly, with 140 products now approved in one or more countries. These therapies, which deliver medical interventions through software, are increasingly being prescribed for at-home use and integrated into digital care programs. In countries like Germany, the U.S., and the UK, regulatory bodies have approved numerous DTx, making them a viable treatment option for conditions such as mental health disorders, diabetes, hypertension, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Some newly approved DTx also use biofeedback, virtual reality, and other innovative approaches to treat pain, visual impairments, and neurological conditions.
Sensor-Based Digital Measures
The use of digital sensors and wearables has enabled a new wave of health assessments, with digital biomarkers and clinical outcome assessments helping to remotely monitor patients. These measures are being integrated into clinical trials, offering higher-quality data and more sensitive measurements than traditional methods. This innovation is allowing pharmaceutical companies to optimize clinical trial processes, reduce enrollment requirements, and shorten trial durations. Some sensor-based endpoints, using wearables, have already received regulatory approval for use in clinical trials in both the U.S. and Europe.
Digital Diagnostics
At least 103 digital diagnostics are now commercially available, offering new ways to assess disease risk, diagnose conditions, and monitor patient health. These software-based tools are becoming essential for screening undiagnosed patients and enabling providers to remotely monitor patient progress. Conditions now detectable with these tools include autism spectrum disorders, sleep apnea, atrial fibrillation, skin cancers, epilepsy, and sepsis. These innovations offer promise for more timely diagnoses and improved patient outcomes.
AI/ML in Digital Health
AI and machine learning are increasingly embedded in mobile and point-of-care devices. In the U.S., around 75 such tools have been approved by the FDA. AI is also playing a significant role in improving diagnostic equipment. As of June 2024, over 800 AI/ML-enabled devices have received FDA approval, further enhancing diagnostic capabilities and care delivery.
Remote Patient Monitoring in Digital Health
Digital tools such as wearables and symptom-tracking apps are being integrated into broader clinical platforms, enabling providers to monitor disease progression, predict future health changes, and improve care management. Remote patient monitoring technologies are also playing a key role in hospital-at-home solutions, allowing providers to monitor patients at home while reducing hospital stays and improving patient outcomes.
Challenges and Opportunities for Digital Health
While the uptake of digital health technologies is rising, it has been relatively slow in recent years. Many developers have faced challenges related to regulatory hurdles, reimbursement issues, and slow consumer adoption. However, the potential for AI/ML-driven interventions remains high, and stakeholders in the digital health ecosystem continue to work through these barriers to unlock the full value of these technologies.
Conclusion
The digital health sector is poised for continued growth, with innovations in digital therapeutics, diagnostics, wearables, and AI shaping the future of healthcare. These technologies offer the potential to improve patient outcomes, streamline care delivery, and reduce the burden on healthcare systems. As regulatory and reimbursement challenges are addressed, the digital health landscape will continue to evolve, providing greater value to patients, providers, and health systems worldwide. Digital health solutions are revolutionizing care delivery, and as this sector matures, its impact on healthcare systems and patient outcomes will continue to grow.
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