Digital Health’s Perfect Storm of Regulators

Both developers and users of digital health solutions face both immense opportunities and daunting challenges. One key challenge is compliance with the often complex state and federal laws and regulations adopted by the numerous regulatory bodies responsible for overseeing different aspects of digital health. The following illustration identifies the numerous regulatory bodies that have been increasingly focused on the use of technology in healthcare and are expected to continue their focus and enforcement activities in the coming years.

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Because innovation is moving faster than the law in this area, in-house counsel and compliance officers must be prepared to identify and manage the myriad compliance and liability risk considerations arising from participation in and use of digital health tools. This will require an understanding of how each of these regulatory bodies oversees and regulates digital health today and close monitoring of how that evolves and changes in the future.

Health care providers, patients and consumers should approach the selection and use of digital health advancements with a reasonable degree of caution. As AMA CEO James L. Madara, MD, advised in his address at the recently concluded 2016 AMA Annual Meeting, “…. Appearing in disguise among these positive products are other digital so-called advancements that do not have an appropriate evidence base … or that just do not work well or that actually impede care, confuse patients and waste our time … from ineffective electronic health records to an explosion of direct-to-consumer digital health products to apps, some of which are of poor quality.” In this regard, providers would be well served by performing sufficient “due diligence” to determine whether the functionality of the digital health tool effectively meets their specific clinical and operational needs, as well as the needs of their patients, and to evaluate the developer’s compliance with applicable laws and regulations.

McDermott Will & Emery






Bernadette M. Broccolo
  Bernadette M. Broccolo has been counseling health industry organizations for more than 37 years on leading-edge health industry relationship formation and realignments. Her areas of concentration include privacy, technology contracting, corporate governance, human subject protection and federal taxation of exempt organizations. Bernadette speaks and writes frequently on emerging health care topics of importance to her clients and the industry. Read Bernadette Broccolo's full bio.


Lisa Mazur
Lisa Mazur advises health care providers and technology companies on a variety of legal, regulatory and compliance matters with a particular focus on digital health topics, including telehealth, telemedicine, mobile health and consumer wellness. Lisa advises a variety of health care providers and technology companies involved in “digital health,” including assisting clients in developing and implementing telemedicine programs by advising on issues related to professional licensure, scope of practice, informed consent, prescribing and reimbursement. Lisa helps clients identify and understand the relevant legal issues, and develop and implement practical, forward-thinking solutions and strategies that meet the complex and still-evolving digital health regulatory landscape.Read Lisa's full bio here.

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