Will digital vaccines change the World?

In a time when vaccination conversations are part of our everyday lives, in a moment in which prevention is in almost everybody's mind, and in an era when technology is accelerating and amplifying our human capabilities… are we ready to consider digital vaccines??

Let me start by summarizing the current reality of digital therapies.

1. Patients are not adopting or using them consistently.?
2. Doctors are not prescribing them due to the lack of clinical evidence.
3. Payers are not sponsoring them because there is not enough clinical and health economics data to assess and forecast their impact.

Today (October 2021), the term doesn't even have a Wikipedia page, so why to even talk about Digital Vaccines? Let me share my perspective on the topic.

Why

Easy, chronic diseases impact patients' lives every day. Families shouldn't lose a member because of Cancer, Heart Disease, Diabetes, Arthritis, Alzheimer or Epilepsy if these can be prevented.?

Based on The CDC data (https://www.cdc.gov/chronicdisease/about/costs/index.htm), 90% of the U.S. annual healthcare expenditure is for people with chronic and mental conditions. So prevention should be a top priority for all of us, our families, and governments.

What is happening in the world of Digital Vaccines?

The quick answer is not much, but essential efforts from Academic Institutions, startups, and others are putting us closer to make them a reality.

Programs like Humanwide from Stamford University (2018) have analyzed the opportunity to predict and prevent chronic diseases by using Digital Health devices and therapies?https://med.stanford.edu/precisionhealth/humanwide/faq.html

Even the Carnegie Mellon University started the Digital Vaccines Project?https://www.cmu.edu/heinz/digital-vaccine-project/index.html

Additionally, companies like Forward?https://goforward.com?are developing attractive prevention models, combining digital and traditional medical interventions. Multiple digital therapy companies like Livongo, Omada, Noom, and others have been growing their prevention offering and user base for almost a decade now.

But why do all of these efforts still feel like pilot programs with a limited scale?

So how to move forward? 4 key questions could make Digital Vaccines the ultimate transformational trigger in Health Care.

1. How to ensure Digital Vaccines efficacy?
2. How to drive users' persistence?
3. How to improve patients adoption???????????????????????????????
4. How to deploy them on a global scale??

Efficacy

Almost all Digital Therapies are based on clinically proven behavioral models. Still, beyond these programs, their efficacy will require an end-to-end approach to achieve the expected outcomes. Digital Vaccines will need an integrated way of tracking patient's health data, clinically-proofed behavioral programs, and services to activate and maintain nutrition, lifestyle, and other critical changes in the patient's lives.

Amazon digital vaccines readiness seems to be the best among all types of companies. Their new Halo band, fitness and nutrition services, Alexa and Echo Omni-channel capabilities, plus their recently launched Amazon Pharmacy, gives Amazon a significant advantage to track, empower and facilitate changes in patients every day.

Persistence?

This is one of the most significant issues to solve for Digital Therapies. On average, users don't use apps for more than 3 months. 71% of app users churn within the first 90 days of downloading an app.(?https://buildfire.com/app-statistics/?). Still, even more critical, daily utilization during the first month is a vital problem to solve.?https://www.researchgate.net/figure/App-30-day-retention-by-mental-health-focus-The-percentages-reflect-the-number-of-users_fig2_334562120?

It is not a mystery that messaging, gaming, and social media apps have the highest retention rates. Still, these platforms do not offer the same experience always. People don't chat with the same friends every day, don't play the same games every month, and don't read the social media updates of the same family members all the time. These platforms are experiences aggregators, so it is not about mastering omnichannel communications, gamification, chatbots, or social features but offering various alternatives of experiences to retain patients.?

A combination of channels, formats, and styles will need to be available for each patient, to address their preferences and context every day, every week, every month, and in every situation. There are no omni-experience examples to illustrate the concept, but imagine getting a different coach through a different channel every day, depending on your mood.?

Digital Health startups will require additional capabilities to compete against Apple, Google, Amazon, and Facebook, who already understand how to keep users engaged. And Big-Tech will need to develop an effective omni-experience model through A.I. Synthetic Humans and other methods.

Adoption

Beyond treatment efficacy or finding ways to keep patients engaged, convincing humans to take action and start preventive therapies seems impossible at times. It is not only about inspiration or offering maximum convenience to individuals; it is also imperative to reach and inspire communities to adopt Digital Vaccines at scale.

As individuals, different needs can motivate patients to move forward, pursuing a healthier life. Looking for certainty, variety, significance, love, growth, and contribution (?https://www.tonyrobbins.com/mind-meaning/do-you-need-to-feel-significant/??) could be the drivers that change mindsets.?

In many cases, access to information, culture, emotional support, and role modeling are led by a community; therefore, activation at scale will require community support and leadership.

Regarding incentives-based adoption, phew payers and employers are trying to offer economic incentives for patients if they improve their health to prevent chronic diseases (?https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/payer/industry-voices-wellness-programs-aren-t-working-well-here-s-what-insurers-can-learn-from?). Still, there is nothing at a large scale that is moving the needle.

In summary, inspiring and activating patients based on their individual needs and convenience preferences is very important. Motivating micro-communities will be essential to move digital vaccines at a large scale.

Access

To validate the efficacy of digital vaccines, bring them to patients and doctors worldwide; and work with payers and governments on new prevention models, Tech giants and Digital Health startups will need to partner with Global Biopharmaceutical companies.

Recent history showed us that biopharma companies like Pfizer and Astra Zeneca, among others, have the experience and capabilities to accelerate access at a speed and scale that might be impossible for others to achieve.??

So the path for Digital Vaccines won't be easy. I don't think that one company alone will be able to get us to the finish line anytime soon. M&A, strategic partnerships, and leveraging vaccines momentum to make Digital Vaccines a reality could change Health Care as no one has even really imagined. This wouldn't disrupt health care; this would be the most impactful change of our times.

This is my personal readiness view by company

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This is my personal opinion and doesn't represent the one from my employer or business partners. I always share my ideas to get your perspective and learn.

Thank you!