The digital health landscape can be overwhelming for employers, who want simple, effective solutions that improve employee well-being while reducing direct and indirect healthcare costs.

Comprised of qualitative interviews with employers, benefit consultants, vendors, and investors, the report provides a welcome and very much needed analysis of gaps in the industry, along with a series of recommendations for reducing complexity and confusion in the marketplace.

The key theme of the report centers around the need for integration across the ecosystem, to simplify offerings for employers and create better user experiences for employees. All stakeholders—employers, employees, and investors—are demanding it, and digital health’s failure to realize the benefits of our data lakes risks harming our entire industry.

“Moving forward, the critical component to virtual health’s success will be integration—with a keen focus on the quality and value of care across the continuum,” the report concludes. “¹

The Fundamentals of Effective Digital Health Evolution

Despite the acknowledgement of problems, the report says that employers are generally excited about virtual health and its prospects. According to the report, 80% of large employers believe that virtual care will significantly impact how care is delivered in the future.

The report concludes with 10 recommendations for fulfilling the promise of digital health in addition to platform consolidation, from enhancing traditional care pathways and solving health inequities to forming creative partnerships and proving ROI. I was proud to realize that Dario is on the leading edge of these recommendations. Here are what I see as some of the most important examples:

Enhance traditional care pathways

The best digital health platforms are designed to help people manage their health between doctors’ visits, provide more complete and accurate data to doctors, and minimize the need for severe interventions.

Understand user needs and provide an excellent experience

Digital health platforms that can leverage direct-to-consumer (DTC) experience, advanced data analytics, and proven principles of behavioral science are in the best position to keep users motivated and engaged.

Solve for health inequities

Solutions must be accessible and useful for diverse populations, even those who can’t be online all the time. Digital health management platforms can level the playing field across age, ethnicity, and geography.

Integrate multi-condition management

Chronic conditions are known to have a high rate of co-occurrence, especially cardiometabolic-related issues. The undeniable truth—which recent research supports—is that we can’t ask people to manage multiple conditions with multiple siloed solutions: Integrated solutions can drive better results.

This is an exciting and dynamic time for digital health, and we’re encouraged that organizations like BGH are doing important investigative work to help the industry evolve. Dario will continue to do its part to advance the industry, by providing easy-to-use, integrated solutions that cut through the clutter and provide lasting results. Check out the full report.

¹Business Group on Health and Sage Growth Partners. The Voices of Virtual Health: From Digitization to Transformation. Available at: https://www.businessgrouphealth.org/resources/The-Voices-of-Virtual-Health- From-Digitization-to-Transformation. October 17, 2022.