Digital Investments In Healthcare Must Be Measurable, Not Just Marketable: Building A Case For RODI

Without a core thesis or strategy behind why we are deploying digital, and how we ought best do so, it's hard to design the right solution, let alone prove its impact. The past few years have been a roller coaster ride for digital health. With record-breaking investments totaling nearly $30 billion in 2021, an underperformance from digital health companies that have gone public and the general feeling that we’ve barely demonstrated value in digital health in either investment or outcomes, we seem to now have entered in the “trough of disillusionment” within the Gartner hype cycle. That doesn’t mean digital innovation isn’t “worth it.” But it does make me wonder whether we are yet set up to properly evaluate its worth. Despite the billions in investment, health systems, one of the primary buyer segments of digital enablement in the industry, have only really dabbled in digital whether through telehealth solutions, remote patient monitoring or even consumer engagement.