Digital therapeutics are programmes that treat or manage an illness through software, usually a phone app, often together with a coach, a device and sometimes a doctor. The short form is DTx. Most are built for chronic conditions, such as diabetes, back pain and anxiety, which are decided by daily habits over months.
A typical programme has four pieces. The app records what the person eats, how much they move and which medicines they take. A device measures something, such as blood sugar or movement. A coach, often a nurse, a dietitian or a physiotherapist, reads these records and sends advice by chat or call. And a doctor changes the medicine when it needs to change.
Who pays depends on the country. In the United States, most people get health cover through their employer. So employers and health insurers buy these programmes for their staff and members. They expect to pay less later for hospital stays and operations. Digital physiotherapy for back and joint pain is sold this way. Virtual nutrition counselling connects patients with dietitians and bills each session to their health plan. Doctors' practices there run their own monitoring programmes with remote patient monitoring software. They bill the government health plan a fixed amount each month, using medical codes.
In India, most people pay for these programmes themselves, through a monthly or yearly plan. A CGM-based diabetes reversal programme puts a glucose sensor on the arm and adds a coach. A digital diabetes management app reads blood sugar and blood pressure and suggests the next step. Digital therapeutics for mental health treat stress and anxiety with a headband or with virtual reality sessions.
Some of these apps only give general advice about habits, such as walking more. Others suggest a medicine dose or a diagnosis. Those are regulated as software as a medical device (SaMD), and each version must be cleared by a regulator before it is sold. Many programmes also take readings from the devices in wearable health monitoring.