Editorial: Digital health applications: acceptance, benefit assessment, and costs from the perspective of patients and medical professionals

Digital health services have witnessed a growing prevalence in healthcare systems around the world, with diverse levels of implementation and hurdles to surmount. Germany took the lead in creating the possibility for prescribing digital health applications (DHAs) as CE-certified digital medical devices with costs covered by the national health system, a trend that has been emulated by other countries, such as France and Belgium (1). Nonetheless, digital healthcare services continue to be perceived as innovations in most healthcare systems, encountering challenges due to the absence of well-established reimbursement channels. In healthcare systems where statutory health insurance covers the costs of healthcare services, patients are often reluctant to pay for digital health services privately. Additionally, both patients and service providers lack initial experience with these innovations (2–4), giving rise to skepticism and requiring time for the innovation to integrate into healthcare.