[GoodBrain2022] Professor Shin Jaeyong "Patient-Centeredness is Important for DTx Development"

Good Brain 2022 International Conference

Professor Shin Jae-yong, Yonsei University College of Medicine
'The Present and Future of Korean DTx'

"Patients Must Understand DTx Well
and Stay Within the Ecosystem"
Calls for Moving Away from Traditional Cost-Effectiveness Evaluation Methods

Professor Shin Jae-yong of Yonsei University College of Medicine is giving a lecture on "The Present and Future of Korean DTx" at the "Good Brain 2022 International Conference" hosted by Asia Economy on the 21st at the Westin Chosun Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul. Photo by Kim Hyun-min kimhyun81@

[Asia Economy Reporter Chunhee Lee] "If patients realize that they are respected within medical services through personalized health management, they will prefer an integrated medical utilization ecosystem through digital healthcare."

Professor Jaeyong Shin of the Department of Preventive Medicine at Yonsei University College of Medicine emphasized the importance of patient-centeredness for the development of DTx throughout his lecture titled "The Present and Future of Korean DTx" at the 'Good Brain 2022 International Conference' hosted by Asia Economy on the afternoon of the 21st at the Westin Chosun Hotel in Seoul. He said, "Many people are skeptical about digital healthcare because of how well patients understand and stay within the ecosystem."

In this regard, he stressed the need to move away from the existing medical service evaluation methods. Professor Shin gave an example: "While face-to-face psychological counseling costs 100,000 KRW per week and yields an effect of 100, DTx costs 10,000 KRW per week and yields an effect of 30, so traditional treatment seems superior in terms of effectiveness. However, DTx allows specialized treatment 24 hours a day and has better cost-effectiveness." Nevertheless, he added that "our current medical system does not recognize treatments unless they are equal or superior to existing treatments," which must be overcome.

Regarding the current environment of the DTx industry, he pointed out that positive and negative aspects coexist. He evaluated positively the efforts of domestic and international government agencies such as the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety to establish regulations and the entry of big tech companies like Google into digital healthcare. On the other hand, he expressed concern that "as the capital market freezes overall, resources for companies to survive are rapidly depleting," citing the sharp drop in Teladoc's stock price and the withdrawal of fee support systems for digital healthcare such as MCIT.

Professor Shin proposed a 'soft landing' within the existing medical system and the formation of an ecosystem platform as ways for DTx to successfully settle. As a soft landing measure, he cited the example of the U.S. 'Rural Health Clinic,' where telemedicine complemented the existing medical system and demonstrated effects such as reduced glycated hemoglobin in diabetic patients. He said, "Instead of aiming to be incorporated into the existing system all at once, it is necessary to target a relative niche market." He also emphasized that from an economic perspective, it is important to realistically view the ripple effects brought by DTx, not only by medical effectiveness or cost savings but also by considering recovered labor productivity losses through improvement of insomnia symptoms, thereby achieving a soft landing.

Finally, Professor Shin stressed the need for an open DTx platform involving various stakeholders such as patients, medical staff, and the National Health Insurance Service. He said, "For DTx to truly be used in medical settings, data must easily flow into hospitals," and added, "A framework integrating different languages should be created to confirm how DTx can be well integrated within general prescription procedures."