ATA, Digital Therapeutics Alliance form new Advancing Digital Health Coalition

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The new Advancing Digital Health Coalition will join the forces of two industry groups with aligned interests in using technology to improve patient treatments.

The American Telemedicine Association’s ATA Action advocacy arm and the Digital Therapeutics Alliance (DTA) announced they have combined to create an “a strong platform for policy and advocacy, focused on advancing innovative technologies that are transforming patient care.” The board of ATA, ATA Action and DTA unanimously approved ATA Action acquiring DTA.

The organizations stated they intend to blend strength in the realms of regulation and policy creation. DTA has a positive, established relationship with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and longstanding influence with regulatory agencies in Europe and Asia-Pacific. ATA Action has successfully advocated for a sea change of positive telehealth legislation at federal and state levels of government, according to their joint announcement.

“Together, they form a more inclusive and effective advocacy organization, ensuring telehealth and digital health, broadly defined, become permanent options held to the same standards as other care delivery modalities,” the companies said.

Leadership addition

DTA CEO Andy Molnar is a member of the FDA’s Digital Health Advisory Committee. He will become health of digital health at ATA Action, while also serving as ATA vice president of industry affairs and leader of the new Advancing Digital Health Coalition.

Andy Molnar
_{© Digital Therapeutics Alliance}

“We pursued this acquisition because of the obvious synergies between our organizations and how well that aligns with the trajectory of the market,” Molnar said in the companies’ joint statement. “Together, we are well-positioned to continue to lead policy and advocacy efforts that will remove the barriers and build the infrastructures to create permanent access to telehealth, broadly defined, and ensure that the global regulatory and reimbursement momentum continues for digital therapeutics, following a landmark year for the industry.”

Along with Molnar, DTA members, leadership staff, and the group’s established programs, resources and task forces, all are being integrated into ATA Action and the ATA. The organizations said the merger will create a stronger, unified community with greater impact across the health care spectrum.

Enabling technology that enables care

ATA CEO Ann Mond Johnson and ATA Action Executive Director Kyle Zebley both praised the unification.

Ann Mond Johnson
_{© American Telemedicine Association}

“Telehealth and digital health innovation are evolving rapidly with increased reliance on technology-enabled care,” Johnson said. “We look forward to collaborating with DTA members, building on our success in helping stakeholders understand the value and impact of technology-enabled care, and advancing the adoption of these modalities.

“Our expanded efforts will boost educational initiatives and convenings, leverage more resources and support our shared mission to better serve our members and the broader digital health community,” she said.

Focusing on policy

Kyle Zebley
_{© American Telemedicine Association}

The organizations announced at least four areas of focus on policy and advocacy:

• Expanded federal and state legislative resources to ensure appropriate reimbursement.
• Expanded regulatory activity, including FDA regulations.
• Expanded opportunities for innovation creating new partnerships and business opportunities in the United States and around the world.
• Improved access to evidence-based digital interventions assisting in the treatment, management and prevention of behavioral, mental, and physical diseases and disorders.

With those, the organizations share a goal to create a unified voice that shapes health care policies to ensure telehealth and digital therapeutics remain integral to the American health care system, Zebley said.

“We will continue to advance and expand our efforts to strengthen state and federal policy, ensuring that telehealth is established as a permanent and essential modality of care,” he said. “And, with DTA’s expertise influencing policies affecting innovative technologies, we are expanding our advocacy efforts to support digital health tools such as digital therapeutics, digital diagnostics, remote monitoring devices and artificial intelligence.”