Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Mental Health
Date Submitted: Mar 19, 2020
Date Accepted: Sep 15, 2020
At What Price?: A Framework for Measuring the Economic Value of the Clinical Benefits Delivered to Patients by Digital Health Apps
ABSTRACT
As digital health tools like smartphone apps evolve and enter clinical use, questions of their economic value must be addressed. Although there is there is scarce generalizable data on the economic value of health apps given their nascency and diverse use cases, it is possible to estimate their value using five levers: the value of a QALY in monetary terms in the nation where the app is used, the QALYs lost due to the condition, the engagement rate of app users, the average effect size of the app’s health impact, and the duration of the app’s impact before remission. Using examples derived from United States and United Kingdom data, we explore how this model can generate regional and culturally specific estimates of the economic value of health apps. This new framework can also drive research priorities for digital health in guiding efforts to focus on levers that will return the most value for a specific region, culture, condition, or clinic.
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