Digital Medicine Society unveils pediatric digital medicine playbook

The Digital Medicine Society (DiMe) announced the release of The Playbook: Pediatric Digital Medicine, an industry guideline aimed at addressing the special challenges of pediatric digital health innovation and creating solutions that maximize care for children.

To counter, what it calls, a lack of investment and barriers to innovation in the pediatric digital health space, DiMe is partnering with Boston Children’s Hospital and other notable industry partners to create The Playbook.

The guideline focuses on pediatric innovation challenges by supplying insights and guidance for developers, clinicians, healthcare professionals, investors and life sciences professionals to navigate the intricacies of pediatric digital health innovation. 

According to DiMe, by aligning incentives and emphasizing collaboration, The Playbook aims to expand innovation, improve health outcomes for children and create sustainable solutions for the healthcare market. 

It features four chapters: market dynamics and sustainable business opportunities; centering the user in product development; implementation and scale; and digital health technologies in clinical investigations.

“The future of pediatric healthcare depends on the choices we make today. In my practice, I see the urgent need for pediatric-specific digital health tools,” said Amy Molten, chair of the American Pediatrics’ section on advances in therapeutics and technology.

“But need alone isn’t enough,” she said. “True progress requires turning good intentions into meaningful action. By applying the same rigor, care, and creativity to pediatric digital health as we do to life-saving interventions, we can create technology that truly serves children and their caregivers.”

Ian Miller, program lead for DiMe, said children make up one of the most vulnerable populations in the U.S. and face significant gaps in care. However, he said, technology has the ability to close these gaps.

“We are proud to have built these open-source resources that will fast track the development and use of technological advancements that center on children’s unique needs and deliver safe, effective, and equitable care,” Miller said in a statement. 

THE LARGER TREND 

In January, DiMe collaborated with Peterson Health Technology Institute (PHTI), ZS Associates and other industry groups to improve the development and implementation of integrated evidence plans (IEPs) for digital health products. 

The goal of the partnership was to align best practices pertaining to streamlining the path to commercialization for digital health products by providing information on IEPs, including regulatory requirements, commercial considerations and the needs of key stakeholders, such as regulators, payers, purchasers and end users.

In 2023, DiMe and a suite of digital health and pharma players partnered to launch a toolkit aimed at improving diversity, equity and inclusion in clinical trials. 

The resources include a guide to each step of a digital clinical trial, shared definitions of terms like “diversity” and “equity,” a list of different digital tools that could be used and the potential benefits and risks, and advice on how to effectively use those tools to enroll and retain more trial participants. 

In 2022, DiMe disclosed four toolkits aimed at helping healthcare and life science organizations use data from sensors like wearables and remote patient monitoring systems at scale. 

The toolkits are based on resources derived from the society’s Sensor Data Integrations project, which includes Amazon Web Services, Oracle, the Moffitt Cancer Center, Takeda and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

That same year, DiMe teamed up with several pharma giants and payers to launch a digital endpoints toolkit. 

The open-access toolkit, which came out of a partnership between DiMe, Anthem, Biogen, Eli Lilly, Evidation, Janssen, Merck, Pfizer and Savvy Co-op, gives payers a roadmap for including digital endpoints in reimbursement for new drugs. Called the 3Ps toolkit, it has specific recommendations for pharma and payers and information for patients and patient groups.