Can Digital Therapeutics Help Deliver Health Care Equality?

After growing steadily for the past decade, digital therapeutics received a big boost from the COVID-19 pandemic because of their potential to help people in ways that are low cost and compliant with social-distancing guidelines. Stakeholders—individuals, providers, payers, regulators, and investors—have all signaled their support for these products.

Health care systems, for example, have expedited the deployment of technologies that enable remote delivery and automate traditional care processes. More and more payers, including the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, are covering digital therapeutics. The Food and Drug Administration has relaxed the approval process for therapeutics that address mental health issues and for those that enable remote monitoring of various medical conditions.