TY  - JOUR
AU  - van Kessel, Robin
AU  - Srivastava, Divya
AU  - Kyriopoulos, Ilias
AU  - Monti, Giovanni
AU  - Novillo-Ortiz, David
AU  - Milman, Ran
AU  - Zhang-Czabanowski, Wojciech Wilhelm
AU  - Nasi, Greta
AU  - Stern, Ariel Dora
AU  - Wharton, George
AU  - Mossialos, Elias
PY  - 2023
DA  - 2023/9/29
TI  - Digital Health Reimbursement Strategies of 8 European Countries and Israel: Scoping Review and Policy Mapping
JO  - JMIR Mhealth Uhealth
SP  - e49003
VL  - 11
KW  - digital health
KW  - telehealth
KW  - telemedicine
KW  - reimbursement
KW  - policy
KW  - Europe
KW  - policy mapping
KW  - mapping
KW  - pricing
KW  - digital health app
KW  - application
KW  - health care ecosystem
KW  - framework
KW  - integration
AB  - Background: The adoption of digital health care within health systems is determined by various factors, including pricing and reimbursement. The reimbursement landscape for digital health in Europe remains underresearched. Although various emergency reimbursement decisions were made during the COVID-19 pandemic to enable health care delivery through videoconferencing and asynchronous care (eg, digital apps), research so far has primarily focused on the policy innovations that facilitated this outside of Europe. Objective: This study examines the digital health reimbursement strategies in 8 European countries (Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, and the United Kingdom) and Israel. Methods: We mapped available digital health reimbursement strategies using a scoping review and policy mapping framework. We reviewed the literature on the MEDLINE, Embase, Global Health, and Web of Science databases. Supplementary records were identified through Google Scholar and country experts. Results: Our search strategy yielded a total of 1559 records, of which 40 (2.57%) were ultimately included in this study. As of August 2023, digital health solutions are reimbursable to some extent in all studied countries except Poland, although the mechanism of reimbursement differs significantly across countries. At the time of writing, the pricing of digital health solutions was mostly determined through discussions between national or regional committees and the manufacturers of digital health solutions in the absence of value-based assessment mechanisms. Financing digital health solutions outside traditional reimbursement schemes was possible in all studied countries except Poland and typically occurs via health innovation or digital health–specific funding schemes. European countries have value-based pricing frameworks that range from nonexistent to embryonic. Conclusions: Studied countries show divergent approaches to the reimbursement of digital health solutions. These differences may complicate the ability of patients to seek cross-country health care in another country, even if a digital health app is available in both countries. Furthermore, the fragmented environment will present challenges for developers of such solutions, as they look to expand their impact across countries and health systems. An increased emphasis on developing a clear conceptualization of digital health, as well as value-based pricing and reimbursement mechanisms, is needed for the sustainable integration of digital health. This study can therein serve as a basis for further, more detailed research as the field of digital health reimbursement evolves. 
SN  - 2291-5222
UR  - https://mhealth.jmir.org/2023/1/e49003
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2196/49003
UR  - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37773610
DO  - 10.2196/49003
ID  - info:doi/10.2196/49003
ER  -