How digital therapy benefits patients, providers, and the health ecosystem

The future of disease management is digital

Digital products are assuming an ever-greater role in healthcare, from artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled apps that help manage patient health, to digital sensors and wearables that create terabytes of granular data. When it comes to how digital therapy may impact healthcare in the coming years, what stands out are the benefits of personalization and individualization to reinforce healthy behaviors, and the promise of greater patient engagement.¹ And although challenges remain, the healthcare industry is optimistic that digital intervention will improve patient outcomes.²

Augmenting therapy with AI and digital sensors

To better understand the potential of digital therapy, consider some of its most valuable clinical applications, such as diabetes and chronic pulmonary disease care, where opportunities to provide true relief currently abound.

More than 400 million people live with diabetes worldwide, and the prevalence is predicted to rise. People with diabetes need to manage their blood sugar levels through lifestyle changes, oral medication, or insulin injection. But optimal daily insulin dosing may constantly vary, which can strongly impact quality of life. AI-enabled capabilities—or the emulation of natural intelligence by a machine—and digital sensors can measure, monitor, predict and respond to daily blood glucose measurements. It can also perform personalized analyses to determine whether and when insulin dose adjustments are needed in real time by identifying when a patient experiences out-of-range highs or lows. Patients whose insulin regime is guided by AI-based software and individualized algorithms might not only achieve blood glucose control more easily but with ongoing personalized dose adjustments, successfully maintain optimal levels long term, and lower their risk of complications.

Pairing digital sensors and respiratory drugs can also help patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). A small sensor attached at the top of an inhaler automatically records when a patient uses it. Data is collected and sent to a mobile app to track medication use and—should the patient choose to share their data with a physician—provide personal feedback and insights on how to limit long-term complications. Approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the sensor and inhaler combination has shown a 58 percent improvement in medication adherence, 48 percent increase in symptom-free days, and 53 percent reduction in emergency room visits.

Treating human behaviors and human biology

Digital therapy is no match for medicine. It’s not a direct replacement for a pharmaceutical intervention, or meant to provide a placebo effect, but may be a useful adjunct to traditional therapy. For those with mood disorders, behavioral change may be less effective than antidepressants. Same for a smoker trying to quit; nicotine replacement may be more beneficial. But a doctor might include a prescription for, say, a mobile app in addition to medicine.

Medication adherence is one of the behaviors that often employ strategies based on cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), or changing the way one thinks and behaves. CBT is an effective way to treat a range of behaviors and deliver a number of patient therapies, including drug adherence, but it’s cumbersome to deliver and often not evidence-based in practice.

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¹ IBM mini-pulse survey of 51 healthcare and life sciences professionals in Europe and the US. November 2018. ² Ibid.