Digital Health: Is It All About Reimbursement?

For groundbreaking success of an innovation, a good idea is not enough. One of the most critical issues for digital health start-ups usually is qualifying for broad reimbursement schemes. DxPx, the new partnering event dedicated to innovation in the field of diagnostics and research tools, puts the issue on focus.

“Especially patients in Europe are accustomed to health insurance companies covering the costs of health maintenance”, states Dr. Patrick Pfeffer, CEO of aescuvest. The Bioinformatician is an expert in the field of digitalization of the healthcare industry. “For many years, not generating enough revenues was a common show-stopper for digital health start-ups. This was very unsatisfying, as inventions with a clear benefit for patients, relatives or professionals could not prevail due to the lack in the business model. Fortunately, we now see a changing environment, that opens new opportunities in the digital arena.”

The starting position for suppliers is improving

Now also legislators and regulatory bodies have recognized the awkward situation that delayed innovative developments – and act: The FDA (Federal Drug Administration) wants to specifically support providers of digital health products with the “Precert Program” to bring software products to the US market faster and easier. The agency has set up a “Pilot Program” to test whether the safety and performance of products can be guaranteed if more responsibility during certification processes is transferred to the manufacturers.

At the same time, digitalization of healthcare was made a key issue for the current German government. In May 2019, Jens Spahn, the German Minister of Health, has presented a draft law (“Digitale Versorgung Gesetz” / DVG), that is supposed to pave the way for innovation and the general reimbursement of digital health care services. Subject to parliamentary deliberation scheduled for autumn 2019, patients will soon be able to have application-based services prescribed by their physician at the expense of statutory health insurance. Implementation is expected for 2020.

All decision-makers on one day in one place

On November 18th, 2019, parallel to the first day of MEDICA, the leading international trade fair in the medical technology sector, the DxPx Conference will bring together start-ups, established players and investors dedicated to innovation in the field of diagnostics (Dx), AI-/digital diagnostics, digital health and research tools in Dusseldorf, Germany. With decision-makers attending from over 20 countries a perfect showcase for aescuvest.eu to present some of its candidates for upcoming funding campaigns on the first pan-European digital venture platform.

The first 10 Aescuvest partners get until the 31 October 2019 an 50%* discount on the participation fee. Please enter this voucher code when registering on the DxPx website: DxPx2019_Aescuvest_50

(*valid until 31-10-19, limited availability, not valid for service providers such as headhunters/consultants)

If you have any questions, please contact the organiser Dr. Mirko Stange of Silversky LifeSciences directly.