IQVIA Institute for Human Data Science Study: Impact of Digital Health Grows as Innovation, Evidence & Adoption of Mobile Hea...
November 07 2017 - 8:00AM
Business Wire
- Health-related apps in five therapy
areas could produce $7 billion in annual savings
- Clinical evidence of Digital Health
efficacy has grown substantially; 570 studies published with over a
quarter released in 2017
- Clinical utilization has increased; 860
current trials worldwide with 82% of U.S. trials run by patient
care organizations
- mHealth Apps nearly double since 2015;
318,500 now available with roughly 200 new apps added daily to top
app stores
- Apps focused on health conditions and
patient care; now 40% of all apps up from 27% in 2015
The impact of Digital Health on patient care is accelerating
with the increasing adoption of mobile health apps and wearable
sensors. Health-related mobile applications available to consumers
now surpass 318,500 — nearly double the number available just two
years ago — with approximately 200 new apps added to the market
each day. This rapid app expansion, coupled with more than 340
consumer wearable devices on the market worldwide, and 571
published efficacy studies, provide evidence of Digital Health’s
accelerating innovation and generation of a subset of proven tools
to impact human health, according to a new report released today by
the IQVIA Institute for Human Data Science.
While general wellness apps still account for most mobile health
apps available, the number of apps focused on health condition
management — those often associated with patient care — are
increasing at a faster rate, representing 40 percent of all
health-related apps.
The report found the sheer volume of available apps presents an
overwhelming amount of options for consumers, resulting in 85
percent of all health apps having fewer than 5,000 downloads.
However, there are some clear category leaders within the space,
where 41 apps have registered at least 10 million downloads,
together representing nearly half of all app download activity.
Separately, there is also now at least one high-quality app for
each step of the patient journey — an encouraging finding for
patient outcomes. Use of just five of these top health apps could
save the U.S. healthcare system an estimated $7 billion per
year.
The study, The Growing Value of Digital Health: Evidence and
Impact on Human Health and the Healthcare System, is the most
comprehensive of its kind conducted to date and extends the
Institute’s landmark examination of consumer-focused mobile apps in
the health system conducted in 2015. For the new report,
researchers drew on IQVIA’s proprietary AppScript™ data and
analytics platform, including the AppScript App Database, the
AppScript Clinical Evidence Database, the AppScript Score app
quality rating system, and the AppScript Essentials Value Model to
provide the first exhaustive global assessment of overall app
quality, clinical evidence, and implications for health outcomes
and care costs. This includes an analysis of 22,357 unique
healthcare apps available in the U.S. Apple iTunes and Android app
stores — a representative sample of the most widely used Digital
Health apps by consumers. As part of the study, the Institute also
conducted additional primary research using the AppScript Device
Database, ClinicalTrials.gov Database, as well as structured
interviews with health- and technology-focused thought leaders and
executives on the role of Digital Health in regards to patient
care.
“The research suggests an inflection point is occurring within
Digital Health trends regarding innovation, evidence and adoption,”
said Murray Aitken, executive director of the IQVIA Institute for
Human Data Science. “The convergence of those three digital drivers
combined with other macro factors, aligns with the development of
the newly defined, and emerging discipline of human data science
that combines advances in information, transformative technology
and analytics with human data beyond the patient journey to measure
and improve health decisions and outcomes. Within that context, we
believe the growing innovation, evidence and adoption of Digital
Health tools can have an increasingly positive impact on human
health outcomes overall.”
The report’s key findings include the following:
- Potential healthcare savings could
be significant in the future. The use of Digital Health apps
and wearables across five patient populations where they have
proven reductions in acute care utilization (diabetes prevention,
diabetes care, asthma, cardiac rehabilitation and pulmonary
rehabilitation) could save the U.S. healthcare system an estimated
$7 billion per year. This represents about 1.4 percent of total
costs in these patient populations. If this level of savings could
be achieved across all disease areas, annual cost savings of $46
billion could be achieved. These estimates extrapolate just from
existing evidence, but continued investment in evidence generation
continues across stakeholders.
- Clinical evidence regarding Digital
Health efficacy has grown substantially. This growing body of
work includes 571 published studies, including randomized
controlled trials (RCTs) and meta-analysis studies, enabling the
identification of a list of apps with increasingly robust clinical
evidence. Particularly compelling findings now exist for use in
diabetes, depression and anxiety, making these categories strong
candidates for inclusion in standard of care recommendations by
clinical guideline writers. An additional 24 categories have one or
more RCTs with positive results making associated apps strong
candidates for adoption across provider organizations and payer
networks. Additional evidence-building efforts continue with 860
clinical trials worldwide now incorporating Digital Health tools,
including 540 in the U.S., with two thirds of these focused on apps
and text message interventions to smartphones. Eighty-two percent
of these trials are sponsored by universities, hospitals, health
systems and other patient care institutions, demonstrating the
increased efforts to fit Digital Health into clinical practice.
Digital tools for remote patient monitoring of chronic health
conditions are a key focus.
- Apps appear to be improving based on
user experience. Fifty-five percent of apps in the AppScript
App Database that launched within the past two years have ratings
higher than four stars, compared to 31 percent of those launched
before 2015. With clear market-leading apps in many health
categories, developers getting low star ratings may either remove
apps more rapidly from the store or invest more continuously in
updates based on user feedback — increasing the value of available
apps to the consumer. App stores have also begun removing low
quality apps, including those that are outdated, abandoned, no
longer meet current guidelines or don’t function as intended.
Additionally, while 73 percent of apps are available in English,
mobile health apps are increasingly supporting a global
audience.
- Digital sensors linked to apps are
bringing innovation and adding value in three key areas: the
creation of smart devices, digital diagnostics and new
human-centered clinical trial designs. Many of the most popular
apps also connect to sensors that detect patient vital signs and
activity, no longer relying purely on manual patient inputs. New
value will be brought to healthcare by algorithms built on top of
such wearable activity monitors to create “digital biomarkers” of
health. By tracking parameters beyond sleep and steps that
correlate to disease severity, these digital tools will contribute
to precision medicine, enabling stratification of patients by
symptoms identified by sensors as well as traditional biomarkers.
Digital-enabled ‘smart’ devices such as asthma smart inhalers,
connected pens for diabetes and smart blister packs are also being
developed to track medicine usage remotely and encourage patient
adherence. These have shown improved therapeutic outcomes and broad
investment in smart inhalers indicates these may become the new
standard of care in asthma. Additionally, smart sensors can improve
clinical trial designs by enabling the collection of patient
experience data in the “real world,” even within the bounds of
clinical trials.
- Barriers still exist to widespread
adoption of Digital Health, but initiatives have emerged to
accelerate the ongoing adoption of Digital Health tools by care
provider organizations. Notably, curation platforms are
facilitating the creation of Digital Therapeutics Formularies;
privacy and security guidelines are being published; providers are
now incentivized to use Digital Health through value-based
payments; and data integration vendors are facilitating more
integrated use of Digital Health data with existing electronic
medical record systems. Additionally, investments by healthcare and
provider organizations in Digital Health continue to grow, with an
estimated 20 percent of large health networks shifting from pilot
programs to more full-scale rollouts. Within the next five years,
this progression is likely to be true for most healthcare companies
and, within 10 years, the use of Digital Health is likely to be
mainstream for most organizations delivering human health.
The full version of the report, including a detailed description
of the methodology, is available at www.IQVIAInstitute.org.The
study was produced independently as a public service, without
industry or government funding.
About the IQVIA Institute for Human Data Science
The IQVIA Institute for Human Data Science contributes to the
advancement of human health globally through timely research,
insightful analysis and scientific expertise applied to granular
non-identified patient-level data.
Fulfilling an essential need within healthcare, the Institute
delivers objective, relevant insights and research that accelerate
understanding and innovation critical to sound decision making and
improved human outcomes. With access to IQVIA’s institutional
knowledge, advanced analytics, technology and unparalleled data the
Institute works in tandem with a broad set of healthcare
stakeholders to drive a research agenda focused on Human Data
Science, including government agencies, academic institutions, the
life sciences industry and payers. More information about the IQVIA
Institute can be found at www.IQVIAInstitute.org.
About IQVIA
IQVIA is a leading global provider of information, innovative
technology solutions and contract research services focused on
using data and science to help healthcare clients find better
solutions for their patients. Formed through the merger of IMS
Health and Quintiles, IQVIA offers a broad range of solutions that
harness advances in healthcare information, technology, analytics
and human ingenuity to drive healthcare forward. IQVIA enables
companies to rethink approaches to clinical development and
commercialization, innovate with confidence as well as accelerate
meaningful healthcare outcomes. IQVIA has approximately 55,000
employees in more than 100 countries, all committed to making the
potential of human data science a reality. IQVIA’s approach to
human data science is powered by the IQVIA CORE™, driving unique
actionable insights at the intersection of big data, transformative
technology and analytics with extensive domain expertise.
IQVIA is a global leader in protecting individual patient
privacy. The company uses a wide variety of privacy-enhancing
technologies and safeguards to protect individual privacy while
generating and analyzing the information that helps their customers
drive human health outcomes forward. IQVIA’s insights and execution
capabilities help biotech, medical device and pharmaceutical
companies, medical researchers, government agencies, payers and
other healthcare stakeholders tap into a deeper understanding of
diseases, human behaviors and scientific advances, in an effort to
advance their path toward cures. To learn more, visit
www.IQVIA.com.
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IQVIAInvestor RelationsAndrew Markwick, +1
973-257-7144andrew.markwick@iqvia.comorMedia RelationsTor
Constantino, +1 484-567-6732tor.constantino@iqvia.com
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