DTx’s coverage conundrum

Makers of digital therapeutics (DTx) are raising huge sums from investors to treat patients with everything from insomnia, to substance use disorder, to diabetes. But in a new blog post for Health Affairs, Nisarg Patel, a co-founder of Memora Health, argues that uptake of these technologies is being “bottlenecked” by the lack of a federal coverage policy. The post points out that pharmacy benefit managers, such as Express Scripts, are creating digital formularies to facilitate coverage, but Medicare and Congress have remained largely silent on the issue. If that continues, these companies, and their investors, may struggle to find a pathway into patients’ lives.

A recent on-demand webinar highlights how wearables could be used to assess outcomes.

(Source: Nisarg Patel, HealthAffairs, 5/13/21)