Pediatric Digital Health Entrepreneurship

The impacts of digital health technologies are being felt across the spectrum of medical specialties, including pediatrics. Innovations ranging from mobile medical apps and software, health information technology, wearable devices, telehealth and personalized medicine are increasingly influencing how pediatric care is conceptualized and delivered. While many opportunities and barriers to clinical adoption mirror those described in adult populations, others are unique to the pediatric health space. Successful digital pediatric entrepreneurship will require a rich understanding of both the overarching and pediatric specific regulatory and clinical context. Lessons learned from digital pediatric entrepreneurship could also inform other special populations such as geriatrics which heavily rely on caregiver engagement. This chapter provides an overview of current challenges facing the pediatric workforce, including staff shortages, the growing mental and behavioral health crisis, and lack of access and equity for certain groups of children. Potential roles digital innovations could play in meeting these challenges are explored and illustrated through topical case studies. For the most part, digital pediatric innovation has been slower off the ground than innovations in the adult digital health space. Clinical, regulatory, and economic barriers all contribute to delays in the pace of pediatric innovation. These barriers are explored in detail in the second half of the chapter together with incentives and frameworks to stimulate future pediatric entrepreneurship and drive clinical adoption.