Lawrenceville, NJ, USA, Apr 30: Value in Health, the official journal of ISPOR, has announced the publication of a special themed section focused on advancing methods to evaluate the real-world value of digital health technologies.
The April 2026 issue features a curated series of research papers exploring how digital health solutions create value across clinical, behavioral, and healthcare system pathways, while addressing the challenges of measuring their impact effectively.
The themed section is led by guest editors Axel Mühlbacher (Hochschule Neubrandenburg, Germany), Volker Amelung (Medizinische Hochschule Hannover, Germany), and Katarzyna Kolasa (Kozminski University, Poland).
In their editorial, the editors highlight that digital health technologies are becoming integral to modern healthcare delivery but remain complex to evaluate due to variations in definitions, applications, and outcomes. They emphasize that value is not inherent in the technology itself but emerges through its integration into healthcare systems.
Key Insights from the Research
The collection includes seven research papers covering topics such as health technology assessment frameworks, AI-driven clinical tools, predictive modeling, cost-effectiveness, and sustainability in digital health.
The findings reveal that current evaluation frameworks are often inadequate for capturing the multi-dimensional value of digital health technologies, particularly when benefits are distributed across complex healthcare pathways and systems.
Key Recommendations for the Sector
- Multi-dimensional evaluation: Expanding beyond clinical outcomes to include system efficiency, implementation feasibility, and real-world monitoring
- Decision-relevant models: Incorporating real-world factors such as patient adherence, healthcare capacity, and population-level outcomes
- Behavioral and cost analysis: Measuring health outcomes driven by behavioral change and adopting comprehensive costing frameworks
- Sustainability focus: Integrating environmental impact into evaluation metrics, including lifecycle and energy usage considerations
- Equity considerations: Ensuring fair access and assessing how benefits and burdens are distributed across populations
The editors note that while digital health technologies hold immense promise, their adoption remains limited due to challenges in demonstrating scalable and credible value, as well as barriers in market access and system integration.
The themed section aims to guide policymakers, researchers, and healthcare stakeholders in developing robust, transparent, and actionable frameworks that support the adoption and scaling of digital health innovations.
