NIH More Than Triples Its Investments in Digital Health Technology Research

Digital health technologies cover a wide range of biomedical tools and approaches to health care, from wearable devices and telemedicine to health information systems and software. (Shutterstock)

Jan. 3, 2025

A new study by NCATS researchers showed that the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has more than tripled its funding for research on digital health technologies (DHTs) in the last nine years, boosting its support from $348 million in fiscal year 2015 to $1.5 billion in fiscal year 2023.

DHTs cover a wide range of biomedical tools and approaches to health care, from wearable devices and telemedicine to health information systems and software. The growing presence of DHTs could expand access to care and allow better care. They may also help doctors and patients make better decisions.

NIH is the world’s largest funder of biomedical research, with an annual budget of $48 billion in fiscal year 2022 (FY22). The study authors used an NIH Office of Portfolio Analysis resource to review DHT-related NIH extramural research grants. Their analysis covered DHT spending by NIH’s 27 Institutes and Centers from FY15 to FY23. In their study in the journal JAMA Network Open, the NCATS team found the following trends over the nine-year period:

• DHT-related research funding ($7.6 billion) was 3.2% of NIH’s total spending ($233.4 billion).
• The number of published studies from NIH-supported DHT research rose 298%.
• NIH-supported DHT clinical trials increased by 170%. 
• The COVID-19 pandemic slowed the rise in DHT research, but didn’t stop it. During the first year of the pandemic, the growth rate in NIH DHT research funding slipped to 7%. But the funding rose 30% between 2020 and 2021, then climbed 14% in each of the following two years.
• NCATS’ own DHT research funding mirrored the wider NIH trends. In the NCATS Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) Program, DHT studies by CTSA-supported extramural researchers accounted for 3.1% of all published CTSA studies in 2023.
• Most DHT studies show that many DHTs remain in the early stages of development. Most of the NIH-funded DHT studies covered research and development (59%), not clinical and regulatory validation (41%).

The study authors expect NIH investment in DHT research to keep growing during the next decade. Scientists will test and validate more technologies, software-hardware combinations, tools and approaches — moving ever more DHTs from the research realm into clinical and everyday use.