Charlotte Ashton-Khan, Director of External Aairs, OHE, looks at putting digital tools to the test
The digital health landscape is brimming with innovation. In 2024 alone, digital health start-ups in the U.S. secured more than $10 billion in venture capital, with nearly 80 per cent focused on AI and machine learning applications. The global market is projected to surpass $500 billion by 2026.
This momentum is undeniably exciting, but in a field as consequential as healthcare, excitement must be matched with evidence. The Office of Health Economics (OHE) — the world’s oldest health economics consultancy — has long advocated for robust, real-world methodologies in evaluating new interventions, and that includes digital ones.
If evaluated and implemented effectively, the potential impact of digital health is significant. These technologies could help alleviate pressure on overstretched health systems, improve access for underserved populations, and support earlier interventions and more personalised care. Tools that enable remote monitoring, digital triage, or self-guided therapy could reduce unnecessary GP visits, shorten waiting times, and free up clinician capacity for complex care.
In a world facing workforce shortages, rising demand, and budget constraints, digital health isn’t just a nice-to-have — it could be a key enabler of sustainability and resilience in healthcare delivery.
Shifting the conversation: from scale to substance
While many discussions focus on scale, user engagement, or interface design, OHE believes the conversation must shift toward more fundamental questions: Does this intervention work? For whom? And is it cost-effective?
This is not a new standard. We would never introduce a new medicine into clinical practice without rigorous evidence of safety, efficacy, and cost-effectiveness. Digital tools — if they are to be embedded into public health systems or recommended by clinicians — should be held to the same standard.
Evaluating the effectiveness of digital health
Our research on Sleepio, a digital therapeutic for insomnia, demonstrates the potential of this evidence-based approach. In a large-scale, real-world evaluation funded by the NHS, we found that Sleepio not only improved sleep and mental health outcomes but also reduced primary care costs, including prescriptions for sleep medications such as benzodiazepines and z-drugs.
Importantly, the study applied methods typically used in health economics evaluations of medicines: careful population matching, robust statistical modelling, and a focus on long-term value to the health system.
This kind of evidence base isn’t just “nice to have”; it’s essential for building the trust of clinicians, patients, and payers alike. In an era of mounting pressure on health budgets and workforce capacity, digital health can be part of the solution — but only if it delivers measurable value.
Without clear evidence of benefit and cost-effectiveness, it becomes much harder for health systems to justify funding or adopting new technologies, no matter how innovative they appear.
Building a global framework for digital health evaluation
We are working with policymakers, developers, and funders to deliver investments not only in innovation but also in evaluation. That means co-developing standards for digital health assessment, supporting access to real-world data, and ensuring that new tools are independently assessed through transparent and replicable methods.
At OHE, we are contributing to this global conversation by bringing rigorous health economics approaches to digital innovation. Our work spans real-world evidence, pricing and reimbursement, and policy frameworks for access — and increasingly, the lines between medicines, devices, and digital platforms are blurring.
For example, we recently mapped the digital health landscape in England, including the national approach to regulation and value assessment across a wide spectrum of digital health technologies, to help inform related HTA strategy development in Thailand. This kind of cross-country learning is crucial if we are to build robust, context-sensitive approaches to digital health evaluation that support informed decision-making around the world.
Digital health is no longer a fringe frontier — it’s becoming mainstream. It’s time the evidence base caught up.
To learn more about our research, partnerships, and policy work in digital health, visit www.ohe.org or contact us directly.
Contact Information
www.ohe.org
cashton@ohe.org