Digital Health Trends for 2023

What are the tendencies that will shape the digital health market in 2023? We at BeKey compiled our top that could significantly impact the industry in the nearest time. Let’s explore these trends one by one!

Health Check-ups Without Doctors

With the dynamic expansion of at-home COVID-19 tests, along with getting proof that self-tests can be trustworthy and reasonable, we may be evidencing a new healthcare era that relies on self-testing for a growing number of health issues. The international self-test market is forecast to grow to $8 billion by 2027, with many major pharmaceutical brands developing multiple products.

Technical progress expands the possibilities of remote diagnostics, so data collected by sensors can be automatically analyzed by AI algorithms. The evolution of laboratory analytics, which started with smartwatches and wristbands, is continued with plenty of medical devices but also smart mirrors, smart toilets, and smart homes. The goal is to detect the disease at the earliest possible stage. We agree that time plays a key role in matters of health, so we applaud this trend.

Prescription Apps

Public and private health insurance funding is a key element in widening the adoption of digital health solutions, which reduces patients’ out-of-pocket costs. Germany, a pioneer in this regard, introduced legislation (DiGA) allowing official review and approval of digital health apps, enabling approved apps to be covered by insurance. Certification schemes have also already been established in Belgium (mHealth Belgium). France is expected to join soon, and more countries will follow. Everything indicates that common standards can be developed for the countries of the European Union. Well, it sounds very promising!

Decentralized Clinical Trials

DСT became a critical strategy as the pandemic took hold. Now the world is returning to a “new normal,” but sponsors still see it as an opportunity to collect data more widely and efficiently.
Developing innovations are underpinning clinical trials in new ways, so trials are struggling to keep pace with ever-changing digital technologies. Passive data collection via wearable devices that can monitor heart rate, blood pressure, oxygen, etc., are forming to be included in clinical trials to compile a broad range of information over longer periods of time, improving the accuracy and increasing the speed with which the trials can be completed.

As companies continue to offer new tools to support DCT operations, it’s clear that this format will become increasingly robust. Biopharma and biotech organizations should seek a DCT partner whose digital-based trial strategy is embedded in speed.

Pharma Investing into Digital Health

Widespread adoption of medical apps requires that they be prescribed by physicians. This isn’t a difficulty for big pharma players with extensive sales forces, but it is a prominent issue for start-up application developers.

Pharma companies are recognizing digital health startups have the right mindset to help them achieve their consumer connectivity and drug development goals. Such collaborations access new technology, reduce operational costs, and meet new patient demands. Pharma-digital health partnerships are centered on improving diagnosis time and medication adherence rates, integrating real-world evidence into clinical trials, and enhancing drug discovery. In the future, we see more collaborations between app developers and established pharma & MedTech providers organized to engage more professionals as well as improve healthcare services.

Remote Therapeutic Monitoring

In 2022, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services introduced a new category of digital health services — Remote Therapeutic Monitoring (RTM). RTM is designed for the management of patients using medical devices that collect therapeutic, and non-physiologic data. Data around indicators such as therapy adherence, medication response, and pain level can be collected and billed under the new RTM codes. Non-physiologic measures can allow a provider to determine how well a patient is responding to medication, what social or environmental factors affect the health status, and what changes could be made to improve personal health. We hope that many interesting startups will appear in this niche.

Final Word

The future of health tech is bright. Technology will play an increasingly indispensable role in healthcare services in the coming years. These five trends are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the potential that technology has to improve medical treatment and outcomes. With the start of 2023, it will be interesting to see how these digital health trends will continue to develop and what exciting achievements they will bring us.

And if you are interested in healthcare software development or improving your medical solutions, consider BeKey as your reliable tech partner. Ready to transform your digital health offering? Let’s talk!