The Debrief

Every week, HealthXL communities connect to tackle the challenges in digital health. If you missed any of these meetings, here are some key takeaways from the past couple of weeks.

Digital health is the wild west, and overpromising is very common. Evidence is the best tool to predict effectiveness; its quality is essential, details really matter. 

Many startups don’t have much evidence at the beginning. Levels of a digital health  product adoption should match the level of maturity of the product’s clinical evidence. It is essential that digital health vendors focus on the fundamentals to have a solid trial design and work with trial and statistical experts from the start. 

Despite a spike in health benefit cost growth in 2021, employers are not shifting costs to employees in 2022. Rather, they are focused on supporting their employees’ behavioral health; adding virtual health care solutions for greater convenience and personalization; and seeking new ways to engage employees whether they are at worksites or remote.

As more DTx -pharma deals are closed, the industry is starting to understand that every deal is unique. This makes it difficult to see one true model or approach that leads to a higher chance of success. Picking and choosing aspects of different deals may be the way to go, as well as avoiding failures we have seen in other partnerships.