Economic Decision-Making in Digital Therapeutics: Key Insights Revealed
New York, Wednesday, 17 September 2025.
A recent study highlights the limited adoption of digital therapeutics due to economic considerations. Interviews with stakeholders reveal how professional norms and uncertainties shape decision frameworks, marginalizing economics.
Understanding Economic Challenges in Digital Therapeutics
Digital therapeutics (DTx) represent a transformative shift in healthcare, offering software-based interventions grounded in clinical evidence. Despite their potential, adoption rates remain low due to insufficient economic evidence, a challenge highlighted by recent qualitative research. The study conducted between April and September 2024 involved 17 semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders, including research engineers and clinician-researchers, to explore how economic factors are weighed during the development and validation of DTx [1].
Economic Evidence: A Peripheral Consideration
The study identified three key mechanisms that contribute to the marginalization of economic considerations in DTx development: professional norms, researcher experience, and adoption uncertainties. These mechanisms operate through reinforcing loops that prioritize clinical validation over economic aspects, thus perpetuating a cycle where economic evidence remains peripheral despite its recognized importance. The research further revealed that cognitive biases, stemming from limited economic literacy among researchers, obscure the integration of economic factors in decision-making processes [1].
Implications for Healthcare Systems
The implications of these findings are significant for healthcare systems aiming to integrate DTx more effectively. By identifying the underlying mechanisms that marginalize economic considerations, stakeholders can develop targeted interventions to enhance the economic evaluation processes during DTx development. This shift could ultimately lead to broader adoption of DTx, maximizing their impact on patient care and health outcomes. The study underscores the need for a comprehensive assessment of clinical, technical, and economic values to strengthen the DTx lifecycle [1].
Future Directions and Research Recommendations
The study concludes with a call for future research to address the identified economic awareness gap in DTx development. Suggested avenues include intervention testing, longitudinal studies, and survey-based validation to better integrate economic considerations into the DTx development lifecycle. Such efforts are crucial for overcoming the current barriers and unlocking the full potential of digital therapeutics in modern healthcare systems [1].