A new study reveals that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has significantly increased its funding for research in digital health technologies (DHTs). The investment has more than tripled over the past nine years, growing from $348 million in fiscal year 2015 to $1.5 billion in fiscal year 2023.
DHTs encompass a broad spectrum of biomedical tools and approaches, from wearable devices and telemedicine capabilities to sophisticated health information systems and software. The expanding role of DHTs promises to broaden access to care and improve its quality, empowering both physicians and patients to make better-informed decisions.
As the world’s largest funder of biomedical research, the NIH had an annual budget of $48 billion in fiscal year 2022 (FY22). Researchers from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) conducted the study, using an NIH Office of Portfolio Analysis resource to examine DHT-related extramural research grants. Their analysis covered DHT spending by the NIH’s 27 Institutes and Centers from FY15 to FY23. The findings, published in the journal JAMA Network Open, highlighted several key trends:
- DHT-related research funding, totaling $7.6 billion, accounted for 3.2% of the NIH’s total spending ($233.4 billion).
- The number of published studies resulting from NIH-supported DHT research increased by 298%.
- NIH-supported DHT clinical trials saw a 170% increase.
The COVID-19 pandemic, while presenting challenges, only temporarily slowed the momentum of DHT research. During the initial year of the pandemic, the growth rate in NIH DHT research funding dipped to 7%. However, funding surged by 30% between 2020 and 2021, followed by increases of 14% in each of the subsequent two years.
NCATS’ own DHT research funding mirrored the broader NIH trends. Within the NCATS Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) Program, DHT studies conducted by CTSA-supported extramural researchers represented 3.1% of all published CTSA studies in 2023.
The research also indicated that many DHTs are still in the early stages of development, with the majority of NIH-funded DHT studies focusing on research and development (59%) rather than clinical and regulatory validation (41%).
The study authors anticipate continued growth in NIH investment in DHT research over the next decade, as scientists work to test and validate more technologies, software-hardware integrations, and approaches. This ongoing work will bring more DHTs from the research arena into practical clinical and everyday use, ultimately benefitting patients and the healthcare landscape.
