Digital Health Collaborative Launched to Raise the Bar on Evidence and Value for Digital Health Solutions

Leading healthcare and consumer organizations have joined the Digital Health Collaborative, a new organization working to advance digital health evidence and adoption. The Collaborative brings together provider groups, purchasers, and end users committed to evidence-based, cost-effective, equitable digital health solutions, and initial activities are expected to include a national purchaser survey, grantmaking, and convenings.  

The Collaborative is supported by the Peterson Health Technology Institute (PHTI), an initiative of the Peterson Center on Healthcare that independently evaluates digital health solutions to determine their clinical effectiveness and budget impact for purchasers, such as payers, providers and employers on behalf of patients.

“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. The Collaborative will share collective learnings and collaborate on needed research and programs to help raise confidence and adoption in digital health.

Initial Collaborative members include:

• American Heart Association (AHA) – https://www.heart.org

• American Medical Association (AMA) – https://www.ama-assn.org/

• American Telemedicine Association (ATA) – https://www.americantelemed.org/

• America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) – https://www.ahip.org/

• Alliance for Connected Care – https://connectwithcare.org/

• AARP – https://www.aarp.org/

• Consumer Technology Association (CTA) – https://www.cta.tech/

• Digital Medicine Society (DiMe) – https://dimesociety.org/

• Digital Therapeutics Alliance (DTA) – https://dtxalliance.org/

• HLTH Foundation – https://www.hlthfoundation.org/

• Innovation and Value Initiative (IVI)  – https://thevalueinitiative.org/

• International Consortium for Health Outcomes (ICHOM) – https://ichom.org

• National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions – https://www.nationalalliancehealth.org/

• The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) – https://www.ncqa.org/

• Rock Health.org – https://rockhealth.org/

Additionally, the Digital Health Collaborative, through support from PHTI, will offer a Research and Impact Fund for aligned research and programs. The first grant was provided to DiMe for its Integrated Evidence Plans for Digital Health Products project to help developers align digital health products with purchaser evidence requirements.

The Collaborative’s 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, privacy, and security. The initial reports will focus on digital diabetes management and virtual musculoskeletal care tools. 

For more information – please visit https://phti.com/digital-health-collaborative/