Digital Health Technology: Demonstrating Benefit and Scaling - Evidence Generation Pathways Across the Health Ecosystem

Digital Health Technologies (DHTs) span a broad range of innovative solutions, from operational improvements to novel clinical measurements, and promise to transform how healthcare is delivered. The level of evidence required to support a DHT, however, varies sharply by context of use - a requirement that is often poorly aligned across stakeholders and is frequently the stumbling block that prevents a promising DHT from scaling beyond initial deployment.While technology-implementation and clinical-validation aspects of this challenge have been explored elsewhere in the literature, there remains a distinct and underserved gap at the health-systems level: how evidence requirements shift as a DHT moves from early validation toward regulatory approval, reimbursement, and system-wide adoption. This Research Topic addresses that gap directly, taking a health-services and scaling-economics lens rather than a purely technical-implementation one.This Research Topic aims to build a clearer, shared understanding of the evidence generation roadmaps that complement DHT product development, deployment, and critically, scaling across the health ecosystem. It will examine how evidence requirements differ and evolve across three broad contexts:• Drug discovery and development, where DHTs increasingly serve as novel endpoints or decentralized trial tools• Real-world healthcare setting deployments, where regulatory, reimbursement, and health-system adoption evidence becomes paramount• Everyday consumer healthcare environments, where evidence needs are shaped by different stakeholders and incentives entirelyA particular focus of this collection is the evidence-to-scale pathway - the regulatory, reimbursement, and health-economic evidence that determines whether a DHT with early clinical or operational promise can actually scale across a health system. This is the Topic’s distinct contribution relative to existing literature on DHT clinical validation and technology implementation. In addition, conversation around policy-maker perspectives and regulatory guidance on adoption of DHTs at a health-system level will help guide readers to the current narratives expected of DHT vendors.Scope and Information for AuthorsWe welcome contributions including, but not limited to:• Original research generating evidence for DHT benefit across any of the three contexts above• Reviews of existing evidence-generation frameworks for DHTs, including how requirements evolve from initial deployment to scaling• Health economics and outcomes research (HEOR) analyses of DHT value, reimbursement pathways, or cost-effectiveness• Policy and regulatory-science perspectives on evidence standards for DHT adoption at the health-system level• Case studies of DHT scaling successes or failures, with an explicit evidence-generation lens• Cross-sector comparisons of evidence roadmaps (pharmaceutical R&D vs. health-system deployment vs. consumer health)• Theory-driven scaling studies and evaluations, applying implementation science theories, models, and frameworks (e.g. Normalization Process Theory, RE-AIM, Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research) to explain, predict, or evaluate DHT scaling processes and outcomesManuscripts should maintain a system-level perspective in line with Frontiers in Health Services’ scope rather than focusing solely on the technical or clinical validation of an individual DHT in isolation. Topic editors: Sachin Shah, Ashley Clift, Bola Grace, Simon Rowland Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/86260/digital-health-technology-demonstrating-benefit-and-scaling---evidence-generation-pathways-across-the-health-ecosystem