Problems and Barriers Regarding the Admission, Financing, and Service Provision of Digital Health Apps: Qualitative Stakeholder Survey

Digital health apps have the potential to improve health care by addressing health problems in new, innovative ways. Since the evidence-based and regulated use of this technology is relatively new, problems and barriers limiting the optimized, patient-centered use arose throughout the first years. This study provides an overview of problems and barriers in the context of DiGA in Germany from different stakeholder perspectives. Nevertheless, with these problems being continuously addressed, digital health apps are trending toward becoming a contributing factor to health care in Germany. Since other countries showed interest in implementing a federally regulated approach similar to Germany, valuable implications can be drawn from this survey.