Unlocking the Potential of Digital Health Technologies: The Role of Health Insurance Companies in Shaping the Digital Healthcare Ecosystem

Marcia Nißen, Marcia Nißen, Raphael Beuter, Marek Rydzewski, Jeremias Pappert

2024

Abstract

This position paper explores the transformative potential of digital health technologies (DHTs) in addressing non-communicable chronic diseases (NCDs) and raises the question of which role health insurance companies play in shaping a healthcare landscape to embrace DHTs. Drawing from a semi-structured interview with two experts from the second-largest health insurer in Germany and supported by public industry reports, newspaper articles, and legal texts, this paper discusses three key dimensions: First, this paper challenges the metaphor of DHTs as “digital pills”, emphasizing that the success of digital medicine in addressing NCDs depends on active patient engagement, long-term intervention adherence, and actual lifestyle changes in peoples’ everyday lives, echoing challenges of analog, traditional medicine. Second, we delve into the promises of DHTs in improving individual healthcare access and health equity through gender-specific, bias-free design. Lastly, the paper elaborates on how health insurance companies operate in their roles as non-profit-oriented (a) co-developers, (b) investors, and (c) catalysts of DHT innovations on a societal scale. In conclusion, this paper sheds light on some of the critical dynamics of shaping digital health ecosystems and health insurance’s profound impact in paving the way for DHTs.

Paper Citation

in Harvard Style

Nißen M., Beuter R., Rydzewski M. and Pappert J. (2024). Unlocking the Potential of Digital Health Technologies: The Role of Health Insurance Companies in Shaping the Digital Healthcare Ecosystem. In Proceedings of the 17th International Joint Conference on Biomedical Engineering Systems and Technologies - Volume 2: Scale-IT-up; ISBN 978-989-758-688-0, SciTePress, pages 886-893. DOI: 10.5220/0012402200003657

in Bibtex Style

@conference{scale-it-up24,
author={Marcia Nißen and Raphael Beuter and Marek Rydzewski and Jeremias Pappert},
title={Unlocking the Potential of Digital Health Technologies: The Role of Health Insurance Companies in Shaping the Digital Healthcare Ecosystem},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 17th International Joint Conference on Biomedical Engineering Systems and Technologies - Volume 2: Scale-IT-up},
year={2024},
pages={886-893},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0012402200003657},
isbn={978-989-758-688-0},
}

in EndNote Style

TY - CONF

JO - Proceedings of the 17th International Joint Conference on Biomedical Engineering Systems and Technologies - Volume 2: Scale-IT-up
TI - Unlocking the Potential of Digital Health Technologies: The Role of Health Insurance Companies in Shaping the Digital Healthcare Ecosystem
SN - 978-989-758-688-0
AU - Nißen M.
AU - Beuter R.
AU - Rydzewski M.
AU - Pappert J.
PY - 2024
SP - 886
EP - 893
DO - 10.5220/0012402200003657
PB - SciTePress