Prescription digital therapeutics (PDTs) are having a pivotal moment. Recent studies validate their potential to both improve mental health outcomes and lower healthcare costs, while increasing efforts to bring regulatory clarity and payer interest are opening reimbursement pathways for widespread adoption.
This inflection point is enhanced by growing consumer preferences and behaviors for convenience and personalization. PDTs, which are FDA-regulated software applications used to prevent, manage, or treat medical conditions, provide just that. These preferences are not fleeting. They are fixed expectations now.
With over 20 years in the healthcare industry, this momentum isn’t just real; it’s personal.
For too long, our healthcare system hasn’t truly met people where they are. I’ve spent my career focused on changing that by putting people at the center. The launch of the first-and-only FDA-authorized PDT for depression symptoms has been a powerful reminder of what’s possible when we rethink how care is delivered and how it’s experienced.
Especially in areas like mental health, digital interventions could fundamentally shift traditional treatment pathways and alleviate barriers that have come between those individuals most in need of solutions.
After a year of real-world deployment, I have come away with some key insights to help unlock the viability of PDTs to address unmet needs throughout the healthcare ecosystem — for patients and providers alike — and take meaningful steps to improve the health experience.
Bridging the access gap and providing care when and where people need it
Across the U.S., the mental healthcare system is stretched thin. 60% of psychologists don’t have openings for new patients, and nearly 40% have a waitlist. The crisis expands when you look nationally, with more than half of counties not even having a single psychiatrist.
This is a major access issue.
PDTs fill a critical gap while someone waits for care, and in many cases, provide a first line of support where in-person options don’t exist. These digital interventions offer an evidence-based way, delivering the scientific quality and rigor needed by the FDA, to not only start treatment more immediately, but do so in the palm of their hands.
The opportunity? Addressing a public health challenge to meet high demand and bring a sense of immediacy and urgency to mental healthcare in a broken system.
Offering alternatives for those that don’t want to add another pill
Fear of side effects keeps over 50% of Americans diagnosed with depression or anxiety from trying medications. One of the most persistent challenges providers share regarding medication management is navigating the tension between efficacy and tolerability. Practitioners find themselves wondering, ‘how can I balance what may be the best choice for each individual with the burden of side effects?’
This directly influences prescribing behavior, supports shared decision making with the patient and provider, and impacts medication adherence.
When traditional medications alone are not sufficient, rather than adding another pill, PDTs are a non-pharmacologic option that don’t contribute anything additional to the fear of side effects. Many PDTs are adjunctive, meaning people are already on medication. PDTs give people living with mental health conditions a clinically validated alternative with minimal to no side effects. Plus, PDTs meet people where they are: offering convenience to fit into their lifestyle and an attractive solution to not add additional medication, or side effects, to their regimen, especially for the more than half of U.S. adults that are managing multiple chronic conditions.
Physicians share an interest in new tools and modalities that can broaden how they manage a person’s treatment plan. With more focus on individualization, PDTs help them better align with someone’s values, preferences, and autonomy.
The opportunity? A solution that appeals to user-centered design and better integrates into life while offering clinical efficacy.
Identifying mechanism-based interventions for sustained treatment
Only a small handful of the thousands of mental health apps available are FDA-authorized. While user experience and accessibility are critical, scientific rigor and credibility are paramount in ensuring tools are evidence-based and responsibly implemented.
This is one of the most promising aspects of PDTs. They are rooted in clinical data, with many designed to target the underlying drivers of chronic conditions. I’ve learned that the most impactful PDTs in mental health may directly address emotional processing, cognitive control, and executive function, which are often disrupted and contribute to persistent symptoms.
These digital tools don’t just give someone coping tools; they are designed to strengthen the systems that help those tools work. Think of this as being like physical therapy for the brain. You’re not just reducing symptoms in the short term. Some of these tools may also support longer-term functional recovery.
We are hearing first-hand from physicians and patients alike that these tools may help target the root causes of depression and anxiety, designed to help individuals build new cognitive pathways, gain mastery of their mood, and reconnect with their purpose.
The opportunity? Distinct therapeutic mechanisms that engage people in their own healing in a structured, accessible, and empowering way.
The growth opportunity
PDTs represent a $32.5 billion market opportunity by 2030. For healthcare leaders like me, this isn’t just business; it’s about the potential impact for the millions of people living with mental health conditions today. For people to finally have tools available that enable them to take greater control over their own care. For people to have access to care that fits into their own lives.
With regulatory, clinical, payer, provider, and patient interest evolving, the time is now to build on this momentum. PDTs unlock entirely new possibilities for mental health engagement, experience, and outcomes.
The future of healthcare brings empathy and understanding to what people need the most, balanced with scientific rigor, to make sure the health experience is more personalized and relevant to each individual. PDTs are a critical component of reshaping mental health engagement and meeting people where they are.
Photo: Anastasia Usenko, Getty Images
Desiree Priestley is the Chief Health Experience Officer at Otsuka Precision Health (OPH), where she leads commercialization efforts across health experience and support services, and digital therapeutics—including the FDA-authorized mental health PDT, Rejoyn. With over 20 years in healthcare, she’s passionate about designing care that fits into real life, not the other way around. Her work bridges complex health systems and the people they serve, driving innovation that’s both human-centered and outcomes-focused. Whether driving digital transformation or mentoring the next generation of leaders, Desiree brings a bold, human-centered vision to the future of healthcare.
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