Overcoming Pilotitis in Digital Medicine at the Intersection of Data, Clinical Evidence, and Adoption

Abstract

Worldwide, digital medicine technologies are being developed at a rapid rate. While these digital medicine technologies offer the potential to transform and revolutionize health care, many are at risk of stalling and remaining in the pilot stage, known as “pilotitis,” thus never reaching true potential. Therefore, overcoming “pilotitis” to increase the uptake of digital medicine technologies is a global concern. To date, several authors have proposed solutions to overcome various barriers owing to the “pilotitis” of digital medicine technologies, such as regulatory frameworks and patients’ data ownership; however, many areas require further consideration. This perspective piece identifies three barriers to the adoption and implementation of digital medicine technologies and proposes approaches for how to overcome them. Addressing such barriers may provide a pathway to success for digital medicine technologies to improve patient outcomes and increase the efficiency of healthcare delivery.

Keywords

• artificial intelligence
• clinical evidence
• digital medicine
• healthcare funding
• medical technology
• N-of-1