Efforts are being made to gain validation of health tech as digital health companies receive record funding for novel but unproven technologies.
One of them is One Drop, a digital chronic disease management solution based in New York City with advanced predictive capabilities.Recent research finds that using One Drop helps members with stage 2 hypertension Lower blood pressure Mean -21/-12 mmHg; reduced A1C in diabetics by -1.25%; Reduce your risk of depression almost 5 times that of the control group. Employers offer One Drop as a benefit to employees with chronic medical conditions.
Lindsay Sears, VP of Evidence Generation at One Drop, recently responded in an email to the importance of evidence generation and validation for digital health companies.
MedCity News: Why do you think clinical evidence and third-party validation are no longer an option, but a requirement?
Lindsay Sears: When it comes to health and well-being programs, demonstrating clinical evidence of effectiveness is critical. There are many ways to present numbers to make a program look better than it really is, so it’s really critical to have robust, published methods and have a third-party verification organization review and approve these results and submit them for publication in peer-reviewed journals. Published and presented at scientific conferences.
MedCity News: Can you discuss the importance of effectiveness and evidence generation in digital health companies?
Sears: Extracting strong insights and evidence from real-world data can be very challenging. Small, incomplete or inaccurate data collection can limit a company’s ability to demonstrate results or gain insight into how and why its programs are effective. To avoid common pitfalls and errors associated with real-world data collection, companies should rely on reliable, accurate remote sensing devices to collect clinical evidence and follow guidelines from organizations such as the American Diabetes Association and the American Heart Association on how to properly clean and analyze clinical data .
MedCity News: Why is this evidence the only way to gain trust and interest among providers, payers and consumers?
Sears: Full transparency about when, who and what nature of data is collected is a core part of the third-party verification and scientific publishing process. Experts who understand some of the nuances involved in the assessment will review the evidence in this context to ensure its validity to the public, providers and payers. This provides a level of assurance and credibility to a wider range of consumers and policy makers who may not have the training or technical background.
MedCity News: How can companies promote equitable access to digital health solutions through evidence generation?
Sears: We have developed a position on how our evidence-generating work can be used to support health equity and access in our industry. First, efforts should be made to recruit from diverse populations to ensure fair representation in the data. Second, evidence groups should look for opportunities to collect member data on social determinants of health, race, ethnicity, and other socioeconomic status variables when conducting research. Third, the effectiveness of health programs should always be investigated in subgroups at higher risk of health inequity and discrimination. Finally, there needs to be a feedback loop that connects insights from access, adoption, and effectiveness data back into the health plan.
MedCity News: What pain points does your One Drop technology solve?
Sears: Traditional health care fails to provide adequate support for chronically ill patients. Each person is unique, but the current system continues to provide a generic treatment plan designed for the average person with a reactive approach to care. Adverse events trigger a diagnosis, and individuals gain insights based on retrospective data. Doctors provide prescriptions and treatment plans to manage disease symptoms without investing in the preventive measures needed to keep people healthy. Consequently, chronic and preventable health conditions are the leading cause of death and disability in the United States. One Drop disrupts reactive and retrospective systems with continuous, predictive, and personalized care experiences—delivering 24/7 accessibility digitally.
MedCity News: What gaps are you trying to address?
Sears: The digital chronic health management market is crowded. Most emerging solutions replicate symptom-focused healthcare systems, delivering reactive assistance through remote monitoring, retrospective data-based insights, and provider-dependent and episodic virtual care. Previous solutions were also situation-specific, meaning that people with multiple chronic conditions had to use one platform for their diabetes needs (eg, blood glucose monitoring) and another for heart health.
One Drop provides a centralized solution for managing one or more chronic conditions, personalized to meet an individual’s dynamic health needs and preferences.What started as a diabetes app and smart meter has transformed into Precision Health Platform Used by approximately 1.5 million members with diabetes, prediabetes, hypertension, or a combination of these conditions, now available at all 195 countries. Members will receive connected medical devices and access to the award-winning One Drop app (iOS and Android) – for access to data tracking, one-on-one coaching, educational content and AI-driven health predictions to support meaningful behaviors Change.
MedCity News: Can you explain how One Drop works?
Sears: At One Drop, we call our method as Precise Health. Precision Health combines real-time data, predictive insights, and on-demand clinical health guidance to deliver a continuous, dynamic, hyper-personalized care experience. Our platform simplifies decision-making and makes it easier for people with or at risk of chronic disease to engage in self-care behaviors that benefit their physical, mental and emotional health.
MedCity News: What’s wrong with third-party validation/clinical evidence? How can One Drop do better?
Sears: Third-party verified evidence is always a good thing when there is a balance between clinical evidence and real-world evidence. It does become problematic when a given project has only demonstrated evidence in a clinical trial setting and lacks proven results in the real world. Clinical trial settings often involve compensation of study participants and strict oversight and monitoring by clinical staff, which may not reflect what happens in the real world. Real-world evidence of effectiveness is important to understand how programs perform in practice when delivered as intended.
Photo: Anastasia Usenko, Getty Images
