Putting Digital Health Products to the Clinical Test

Digital health products aim to help people with myriad health concerns and goals. From sleep health to physical therapy to quitting smoking, these products are often designed to improve health outcomes or change health-related behaviors. The Elevance Health Digital Health Evidence Council (DHEC) assesses these products to identify those most likely to deliver true clinical effectiveness.

Dr. Jordan Silberman leads the DHEC; he discusses why it’s necessary to evaluate digital health products and Elevance Health’s role in this work.
 

Why is it important to take a closer look at digital health products?

More than 350,000 digital health products are available, and more than half of adults in the United States use digital products to track their health. There’s a lot of variability in clinical effectiveness and sustained engagement with these products. The health system needs products that work well in real-world situations and are scalable.
 

What does the DHEC do?

The DHEC created an assessment approach to evaluate the clinical effectiveness of digital health products.

In these assessments, we focus primarily on thorough reviews of available evidence from clinical studies. We evaluate clinical studies carefully to determine whether the evidence is solid enough to justify whether the digital health product should be used broadly. Our expert council of pharmacists, physicians, and researchers reviews study methods, statistical analyses, and many other factors that inform our confidence that a product may deliver clinical benefit to the people we serve. In this process, the details matter.

We assess whether peer-reviewed evidence shows similar health benefits in different groups. Our final reports help to inform which products will best serve health plan members.

DHEC has evaluated hundreds of digital health products in areas including diabetes prevention and management, maternal health, musculoskeletal conditions, smoking cessation, high blood pressure management, sleep health, cancer, and medication adherence.

Why does a health insurance company do this work?

We can help the people we serve by researching and testing products in the crowded digital health space for them and presenting them with the best options available. We have developed robust capabilities to evaluate clinical effectiveness. While the DHEC usually does not consider cost as part of the assessment, the assessment itself can help identify low-value digital health products that should be avoided (which also avoids unnecessary costs).

Our goals with DHEC are to:

• Improve health outcomes by identifying digital health products that have been scientifically assessed.
• Improve whole health by driving adoption of products that adhere to best practices.
• Reduce risks of harm by helping to avoid products that have not been adequately tested.
• Avoid wasting resources on products that may be unlikely to improve health outcomes.