News, Secondary Care

NICE Evidence Standards Framework for Digital Health Technologies V2 launched

NICE has published an updated version of its evidence standards framework for digital health technologies that sets out the evidence requirements for different types of tech.

You can download the evidence standards framework for digital health technologies here. 

The first edition was published in December 2018 with the latest version updated following feedback from stakeholders across health and care.

The standards were developed collaboratively by NICE, NHS England, NHS Digital, MedCity, Public Health England and Digital health London. They set out evidence standards for both the clinical and economic impact of new digital health technologies and what evidence is needed from innovators to help develop a case for their use in the NHS.

The standards also provide commissioners with an insight into what information to ask for from technology developers to inform commissioning decisions. This will help enable the health and care system to identify the most effective, valuable technologies and help speed their take-up and adoption.

This weeks’ release was the first update to the framework since its launch in December 2018, and, for the first time, it includes 20 detailed case studies with only four making the highest grade of Tier 3B.

The four grades of evidence range from those that provide no measurable patient outcomes but provide services to the health and care system all the way to those providing treatment, active monitoring, diagnosis and decision support.

Dr. Lloyd Humphreys, Head of Europe for SilverCloud, one of the organisations who reached the highest standards said: “It is globally recognised that NICE set the highest bar when it comes to ensuring safe, effective and economical interventions. We are delighted that 16 years of research, hard work and passion for changing mental health care has resulted in this recognition by NICE. It is thanks to our world-leading clinical research team and the culmination of the largest data set of any digital mental health solution that this has been possible.”