Patient-Facing Digital Health Tools Portfolio

Digital health has the potential to make transformative progress in achieving more accessible, efficient, and personalized health care – but work is needed to make this potential a reality. Digital health doesn’t fit neatly into the care vs product paradigm, and policy research in this space needs to develop innovative approaches to reflect that integration. Duke-Margolis is working to shape responsible and inclusive digital health and AI policies to foster innovation while safeguarding patients. 

Current Projects

  • Project Page | Exploring Equitable Access to Care and Outcomes Using Telehealth in the Transition to Medicaid Managed Care
    • While telehealth can enable trusting patient-provider relationships for high quality care, the use of telehealth in new care arrangements may not be feasible, acceptable, or appropriate with all populations. The findings from this multifaceted project propose interventions that may reduce health inequities and improve health outcomes for people enrolled in Medicaid based on econometric analysis of NC Medicaid claims data and anecdotal interviews with patients/caregivers, clinicians, administrators, payers, and policymakers.

Past Projects 

  • Project Page | Mobilizing mHealth Innovation for Real-World Evidence Generation (2017) 
    • Mobile Health (mHealth) involves using mobile or personal home devices to support wellness, clinical care, or public health. This could include mobile phones, patient monitoring devices, personal digital assistants, or other wireless devices. In 2017, Duke-Margolis presented a set of recommendations developed by a multi-stakeholder working group aimed at advancing the use of data from mHealth apps and wearables for real-world evidence generation. 

Past Publications

  • White Paper | Building Value into Reimbursement for Prescription Digital Therapeutics (December 2024)
    • Prescription digital therapeutics (PDTs), which are health software that deliver a medical intervention to treat or manage a disease, disorder, condition, or injury, are one category of Digital health technologies (DHTs) that lack a clear CMS benefit category and therefore face significant challenges for reimbursement. Building off of CMS's 2025 Physician Fee Schedule, which established the first reimbursable codes for PDTs, this issue brief investigates best practices for integrating PDTs into Medicare reimbursement structures while prioritizing value and outcomes.
  • White Paper | A Roadmap for Developing Study Endpoints in Real-World Settings (August 2020) 
    • This paper highlights how digital measurement tools can be used to collect clinical outcome assessments and biomarkers in real-world studies. It emphasizes the role of PGHD from these tools in building real-world endpoints.