Following its launch in 2019, Germany’s Digital Health Apps program (DiGA) was lauded as a leader for digital health reimbursement. The program created a fast-track pathway to reimbursement for digital health solutions and included an assessment and rapid review in three months or less. Many European countries began plans to implement similar approval and reimbursement processes. In Belgium we saw the launch of mHealthBELGIUM and in October of 2021 French President, Emmanuel Macron, announced France will launch a DiGA-like expedited reimbursement process in 2022. (You can find some background reading on our previous blog.)
However, this early praise has given way to deep criticism. In this blog we explore the current state of the DiGA and the potentially changing view of DiGA as a stand-out model as compared to other reimbursement pathways.
