DiMe Releases The Playbook: Pediatric Digital Medicine Edition

New industry roadmap outlines best practices for advancing digital health innovation for the underserved pediatric population

, /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the Digital Medicine Society (DiMe), a global non-profit and the professional home for digital medicine, released The Playbook: Pediatric Digital Medicine, an industry roadmap to address the unique challenges of pediatric digital health innovation and create solutions that optimize care for children.

Today, children make up 23% of the U.S. population, but they receive less than 10% of total healthcare funding and 5% of venture capital funding. Where investment does exist, best practices for developing digital health solutions that are optimized for the unique needs of pediatric care and research are largely absent.

In response to the lack of investment and barriers to innovation in the pediatric digital health space, DiMe partnered with Boston Children's Hospital and other key industry partners to create The Playbook: Pediatric Digital Medicine.

"The future of pediatric healthcare depends on the choices we make today. In my practice, I see the urgent need for pediatric-specific digital health tool. But need alone isn't enough," Amy Molten, Chair, Section on Advances in Therapeutics & Technology, American Academy of Pediatrics, "True progress requires turning good intentions into meaningful action. By applying the same rigor, care, and creativity to pediatric digital health as we do to life-saving interventions, we can create technology that truly serves children and their caregivers. These resources pave the way for thoughtful innovation - technology that grows alongside them, remaining responsive, ethical, and built for their future."

The Playbook addresses pediatric innovation challenges by providing insights and recommendations for developers, clinicians, healthcare professionals, investors, and life sciences professionals to navigate the complexities of pediatric digital health innovation. By aligning incentives and emphasizing collaboration, The Playbook is designed to accelerate innovation, improve health outcomes for children, and create sustainable solutions for the healthcare market.

"Children make up one of the most vulnerable populations in the U.S. and face significant gaps in care - but the ability for technology to close these gaps is within our reach," added Ian Miller, Program Lead, DiMe. "We are proud to have built these open-source resources that will fast track the development and use of technological advancements that center on children's unique needs and deliver safe, effective, and equitable care."

The Playbook features four chapters focused on:

1. Market dynamics and sustainable business opportunities in pediatric digital health
2. Centralizing infants and children as the users in product development
3. Implementing to scale and understanding the unique needs of children in aligning clinical care and digital health technologies (DHTs)
4. DHT clinical investigations and advancements to understand, collect, and use data to improve pediatric patients' lives

This project builds upon the success of DiMe's The Playbook: Digital Clinical Measures and The Playbook: Digital Healthcare. The Playbooks are signature DiMe resources, providing essential guides supporting healthcare's most critical digital innovation efforts.

At DiMe, we convene and activate leaders, innovators, and enthusiasts from around the globe at the intersection of digital innovation and healthcare to solve the problems that no one else can fix. To change the digital health landscape as a DiMe partner, click here.

About the Digital Medicine Society: DiMe is a global non-profit and the professional home for all members of the digital medicine community. Together, we tackle the toughest digital medicine challenges, develop clinical-quality resources on a technology timeline, and deliver these actionable resources to the field via open-source channels and educational programs.

Media Contact: Carla English, [email protected]

SOURCE Digital Medicine Society (DiMe)