Key Takeaways:
- Chronic diseases are a major health and financial burden in the U.S., yet current care models remain outdated, reactive, and fragmented.
- Digital therapeutics (DTx) offer personalized, clinically validated, software-based interventions that provide continuous, real-time support and monitoring for chronic conditions.
- DTx addresses key failures in traditional care through behavioral reinforcement, AI-driven personalization, and integration with clinical workflows.
- Despite demonstrated success across conditions like diabetes, hypertension, and mental health, adoption of DTx is challenged by regulatory, reimbursement, training, and access barriers.
- Looking ahead, hybrid care models powered by AI and DTx have the potential to create a seamless, proactive, and patient-centered approach to chronic disease management.
Chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes are the leading causes of death and disability in the United States, and they are major contributors to the nation’s $4.5 trillion in annual healthcare expenditures. According to the CDC, 6 in 10 American adults live with at least one chronic condition, and 4 in 10 have two or more. Many of these conditions are preventable, driven by modifiable behaviors like smoking, poor nutrition, physical inactivity, and excessive alcohol use.
Yet, despite this enormous burden, the prevailing model for chronic care remains outdated, fragmented, and fundamentally reactive. It struggles to meet the complex, day-to-day needs of patients managing lifelong illnesses.
Enter digital therapeutics (DTx): A new class of evidence-based, software-driven medical interventions designed to deliver personalized, scalable care through real-time monitoring, behavioral support, and seamless integration into clinical workflows. As health systems transition toward value-based care and population health management, DTx represents a transformative opportunity to reimagine chronic care delivery.
What Are Digital Therapeutics?
Digital therapeutics differ sharply from generic health apps. These tools are designed to deliver clinical-grade interventions and are often subject to regulatory scrutiny. In many cases, they are prescribed by licensed providers and used to treat specific medical conditions.
DTx platforms often include components such as continuous monitoring, AI-driven personalization, and behavioral nudges grounded in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). Take Type 2 diabetes, for example. A DTx platform might monitor blood glucose through a wearable, while offering personalized recommendations for diet, exercise, and behavior change, each informed by real-time biometric data. Clinically validated and designed to deliver measurable outcomes, these platforms serve as integral parts of modern disease management.
While telemedicine extends traditional office visits through video, digital therapeutics offer something different: a continuous care model that fills the gaps between appointments. By providing daily support and insights, DTx empowers patients and enables clinicians to act proactively rather than reactively.
Chronic Care’s Core Failures
To understand the impact of DTx, we need to examine the weaknesses in conventional chronic care:
- Access Gaps: Patients in rural or underserved regions often struggle to find specialists or even basic care continuity.
- Non-Adherence: It’s estimated that more than 50% of patients do not take their medications as prescribed. This isn’t always due to forgetfulness—it often stems from a lack of understanding, engagement, or perceived benefit.
- System Fragmentation: Health data is scattered across EHRs, wearable devices, and provider networks, creating blind spots in care coordination.
- Snapshot Monitoring: Clinic visits provide limited visibility into a patient’s evolving condition, leading to reactive rather than preventive interventions.
These systemic issues lead to poor outcomes, avoidable hospitalizations, and mounting costs. DTx is uniquely positioned to reverse these trends.
The DTx Difference: Real Time, Personalized, Integrated
Digital therapeutics offer a dynamic, data-driven response to these gaps:
- Real-Time Monitoring: DTx tools connect to wearables and mobile sensors to track metrics like blood pressure, glucose levels, or mood in real time. This continuous visibility allows clinicians to spot issues early and step in before they escalate.
- Behavioral Reinforcement: Grounded in evidence-based behavioral science, these platforms deliver tailored prompts and coaching—like reminders to take medication, cues to stay active, or support during moments of stress—to help patients build healthier habits over time.
- Intelligent Personalization: Algorithms can tailor interventions based on real-time patient data, evolving needs, and clinical goals.
- Workflow Integration: DTx platforms can feed structured data directly into EHR systems, ensuring physicians can access timely insights within their existing workflows.
Measurable Impact Across Conditions
The clinical and economic potential of digital therapeutics is already evident across multiple domains:
- Type 2 Diabetes: Multiple studies have shown that DTx programs combined with pharmacotherapy can lower HbA1c by as much as 1.5%, comparable to some first-line therapies. These solutions also boost self-efficacy and adherence.
- Hypertension: Real-time blood pressure monitoring combined with behavioral coaching has resulted in significant reductions in systolic and diastolic pressure.
- Mental Health: FDA-cleared DTx products for depression, anxiety, and insomnia provide non-pharmacologic alternatives grounded in CBT.
- Obesity and Cardiovascular Health: DTx interventions targeting diet, physical activity, and stress management have demonstrated positive outcomes in weight loss and lipid control.
Beyond these examples, emerging use cases include asthma, COPD, chronic pain, and substance use disorders, highlighting the adaptability and scalability of DTx tools.
Adoption Barriers and What Needs to Change
Despite their promise, several roadblocks stand in the way of broad adoption:
- Regulatory Navigation: While some DTx products have secured FDA approval, others remain in regulatory limbo. Global markets have their own standards, adding complexity for companies trying to scale.
- Reimbursement Challenges: Current payment models lag behind innovation. Payers are gradually creating codes and pathways to support DTx reimbursement, but more clarity and consistency are needed.
- Provider Training: Many clinicians are unfamiliar with how to prescribe, monitor, or evaluate digital therapeutics. Incorporating DTx education into medical curricula and CME programs will be crucial.
- Digital Divide: Disparities in smartphone ownership, broadband access, and digital literacy risk leaving some populations behind. Bridging these gaps must be a parallel priority to product innovation.
Toward Hybrid, AI-Driven Care Models
Digital therapeutics will likely serve as a cornerstone of hybrid care models. In these setups, patients receive a combination of traditional treatments and software-guided interventions, with care teams leveraging AI to triage, monitor, and personalize outreach at scale.
AI can further enhance DTx platforms by continuously refining recommendations based on a broader data universe, including genomics, social determinants of health, and comorbidities. Meanwhile, interoperability between DTx, EHRs, and virtual care platforms will help create a more seamless patient experience and a more informed provider ecosystem.
Ultimately, the goal is to reimagine chronic care as a continuous, patient-centered journey—guided by data, enhanced by behavioral science, and delivered at the speed of software.
About Avantika Sharma
Avantika Sharma is the Global Head of Healthcare at Brillio, leading digital transformation across the industry with a focus on accessibility, innovation, and impact. She is also a strong advocate for Women in Tech, championing diversity and leadership in healthcare and technology.
