MOBIHEALTH NEWS: DIGITAL HEALTH LITERACY

One significant obstacle for the legislation has been educating lawmakers about digital therapeutics, said Rep. Thompson and the AMCP's Mathieu.

"The biggest challenge we've encountered both as AMCP as well as the broader coalition is education. Truly, the question we get is, 'What is a prescription digital therapeutic?'" Mathieu said. "So, really our biggest role throughout 2022 has been to educate members of Congress. Once we've helped them understand exactly what it is and how it benefits patients, we've had a very positive response to the bill."

Torous said the need for digital health literacy extends beyond legislatures to the public, who will ultimately be partially liable for paying for these therapeutics should the bill pass. 

"I would almost argue that we need a bill to support digital health literacy for Americans to make sure everyone can equitably benefit from these as the ground layer before we begin talking about [making it mandatory]," Torous said. 

Pear's McCann argues improving digital health literacy is a role for companies that offer these treatments.

"It's the job of the companies to educate clinicians and educate patients as to how [prescription digital therapeutics] fits into mainstream medical care. And I think what you currently have is a very, very lumpy reimbursement environment, and so companies aren't able to resource educating patients and educating clinicians," McCann said. "I think what we're looking for is a more regular reimbursement environment, like what is seen in the drug world, so that companies can then go out and solve the last mile issues of making the products mainstream medical treatment."

The bipartisan and bicameral bill has now been dual referred to the Ways and Means Committee and Energy and Commerce Committee. 

"The lead person in Energy and Commerce is Congresswoman [Doris] Matsui, and we have talked at length on this bill. And I know she's pretty excited about the possibilities, and we're continuing to talk to and educate our colleagues," Rep. Thompson said. "And as I said, when you bring something new forward, there's a bit of time it takes to get people to understand it and to accept it."

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