Digital health generally refers to the use of internet solutions, big data, and communications technologies to collect, share and manage health information to improve both individual and public health, as well as identify symptoms, plan treatment, monitor key health parameters, and monitor progress and treatment effects. One aspect of digital health, namely telemedicine has grown rapidly throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Many of the efforts in this field were designed to help mitigate the effects of the pandemic and to ensure that healthcare delivery could continue as much as possible. With the rise in the development and use of digital health products, there is a need to understand their impact on healthcare. However, evidence supporting comparative effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of these products is limited. Regulatory policy on the adoption of digital health products is lacking and there is an absence of clear guidelines to evaluate their health and economic benefits in clinical practice for policy makers and developers. Similarly, policy environments remain unclear as to how digital health products are classified: do the policies for medical technologies also cover digital health or is digital health yet another archetype? Additionally, there are important considerations with regards to the impact of digital health on health inequalities due to digital exclusion. How can digital health tools be utilised in a way that it contributes to the improvement of health outcomes instead of widening existing divides?

LSE Health Digital focuses on providing clarity on these types of questions. We are a team of experts from the public and private sector, as well as academia. Our shared experience ranges from policy analyses and advising to health technology assessment and economic evaluations to exploring, understanding, and addressing health inequalities. 

What do we do

In more specific terms, LSE Health Digital has four areas of interest:

• Governance of digital health

• Policy and regulatory options surrounding digital health

• Economic evaluations and reimbursement processes of digital health tools and therapeutics

• Digital health and health inequalities

Outputs

Public Engagement

• Dr Robin van Kessel moderated the seventh iteration of the WHO Decoding Data and Digital Health webinar series, which focused on the reimbursement, financing, and valuation of digital health technologies. You can watch the recording of the webinar here.
• Dr Robin van Kessel moderated the expert panel of the webinar "Regulation of AI in health in Europe" during the 2024 European Public Health Week (13-17 May). You can watch the recording of the webinar here.
• Dr Robin van Kessel participated in the panel "Transforming digital health practice: The critical role of governance, investment and evaluation" at the Second WHO Symposium on the Future of Health Systems in a Digital Era in the European Region (5-6 Sept 2023). You can watch his talk here.
  
• Dr Divya Srivastava gave the talk AI in Healthcare, assessing how AI is being deployed in healthcare.

Scientific Publications

• van Kessel, R., Ranganathan, S., Anderson, M., McMillan, B., Mossialos, E., Exploring potential drivers of patient engagement with their health data through digital platforms: A scoping review, International Journal of Medical Informatics 2024
• Srivastava, D., van Kessel, R., Delgrange, M., Cherla, A., Sood, H., Mossialos, E., A Framework for Digital Health Policy: Insights from Virtual Primary Care Systems Across Five Nations, PLOS Digital Health 2023
  

• van Kessel, R., Roman-Urrestarazu, A., Anderson, M., Kyriopoulos, I., Field, S., Monti, G., Reed, S.D., Pavlova, M., Wharton, G., Mossialos, E., Mapping Factors That Affect the Uptake of Digital Therapeutics Within Health Systems: Scoping Review, Journal of Medical Internet Research 2023

• van Kessel, R., Srivastava, D., Kyriopoulos, I., Monti, G., Novillo-Ortiz, D., Milman, R., Zhang-Czabanowski, W.W., Nasi, G., Stern, A.D., Wharton, G., Mossialos E., Digital Health Reimbursement Strategies of 8 European Countries and Israel: Scoping Review and Policy Mapping, JMIR mHealth and uHealth 2023

• Srivastava, D., Henschke, C., Virtanen, L., Lotman, E-M., Friebel, R., Ardito, V., Petracca, F., Promoting the systematic use of real-world data and real-world evidence for digital health technologies across Europe: a consensus framework, Health Economics, Policy and Law 2023

• van Kessel, R., Haig, M., Mossialos, E., Strengthening Cybersecurity for Patient Data Protection in Europe, Journal of Medical Internet Research 2023

• van Kessel, R., Kyriopoulos, I., Mastylak, A., Mossialos, E., Changes in digital healthcare search behavior during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic: A study of six English-speaking countries, PLOS Digital Health 2023 

• Fast, N., van Kessel, R., Humphreys, K., Ward, N.F., Roman-Urrestarazu, A., The Evolution of Telepsychiatry for Substance Use Disorders During COVID-19: a Narrative Review, Curr Addict Rep 2023
• Holly, L., Wong, B.L.H., van Kessel, R., Awah, I., Agrawal, A., Ndili, N., Optimising adolescent wellbeing in a digital age, BMJ 2023
• van Kessel R., Kyriopoulos I., Wong B., Mossialos E., The Effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Digital Health–Seeking Behavior: Big Data Interrupted Time-Series Analysis of Google Trends, J Med Internet Res 2023
• van Kessel R., Wong B. L. H., Forman R., Gabrani J., Mossialos E., The European Health Data Space fails to bridge digital divides,  BMJ 2022
• van Kessel R., Hrzic R., O'Nuallain E., Weir E., Wong B., Anderson M., Baron-Cohen S., Mossialos E., Digital Health Paradox: International Policy Perspectives to Address Increased Health Inequalities for People Living With Disabilities, J Med Internet Res 2022

Reports

• Dr Robin van Kessel participated in the development of a report of the WHO Regional Office for Europe on the role of digital health technologies in women’s health, empowerment, and gender equality. The research unit played an advisory role during the conceptualisation of the methodology, the execution of the literature search, the interpretation of the findings, and the write-up of the report. You can read the report here.

• Dr Robin van Kessel contributed to a submission of evidence to UK Parliament in regard to the Online Safety Bill. The submission of evidence details the magnitude of problematic use of the internet as a current public health priority, as well as a set of recommendations to ensure the preparedness for online safety regulation. You can read the report here.

 

Who is involved

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For more information, please contact Dr Robin van Kessel at r.van-kessel@lse.ac.uk

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