The Peterson Center on Healthcare, a non-profit organisation to transform U.S. healthcare, has launched a $50 million institute to evaluate digital health technologies.
Peterson Health Technology Institute (PHTI) aims to provide independent evaluations of innovative healthcare technologies to improve health and lower costs, as well to deliver evidence-based assessments that analyse the impact of innovations.
Set up in order to fill the “information gap” existing for the “efficacy and performance of the many digital health tools entering the sector”, PHTI will establish an original assessment framework developed specifically for digital health tools, in partnership with the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review.
By collecting and analysing data relating to the clinical performance of health technologies, the Institute is expected to “highlight the most promising new digital health innovations”, providing information for investors and purchasers. With investment in the US alone increasing almost tenfold to $15.3 billion over the last decade, the PHTI aims to help overcome that “most digital health tools lack sufficient evidence to support their claims about clinical benefits”.
Michael Peterson, CEO of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, commented: “It’s clear that digital tools and artificial intelligence can provide a range of benefits to patients, but we have an inadequate understanding of what works and how much it should cost. By producing independent, evidence-based research on emerging technologies, the Peterson Health Technology Institute will help improve and accelerate healthcare innovation in the United States.”
Last month, we covered a study offering a new framework intended specifically for assessing evidence from digital health interventions (DHIs), which recognised the need for assessment of evidence from DHIs to be carried out in a more standardised manner.
In the UK, NICE has also recently updated its evidence standards framework to include AI and data-driven tech, working with stakeholders, system partners and thought leaders to ensure that digital health technologies are “clinically effective and offer value to the health and care system”.
To find out more about the new Peterson Health Technology Institute, please click here.
