Rüdersdorf, 30 May 2025
How can digital health options like apps or online lessons be of help to people suffering from hypertension – specifically elderly people or those with limited health potential? The project “DiPaH”, which stands for digital preventive measures in arterial hypertension, has addressed this question. Key findings have now been published in a whitepaper with specific recommendations for policy makers, actors in the health system and digital providers.
Funding for the project, a joint undertaking of the Brandenburg Medical School Theodor Fontane (MHB), AOK Nordost and revFLect GmbH, came from the innovation committee of the Federal Joint Committee of Health Insurers and Physicians.
The idea was to identify factors which promote or impede the use of digital health options – such as health apps or online courses to prevent hypertension. The focus was primarily on elderly people and so called vulnerable groups, e.g. people with low income or limited health competences.
Research methods
Applying a mixed-method approach, the project team combined:
- online surveys and personal interviews
- discussion rounds with insured persons, physicians and app users
- analysis of anonymized health insurance data.
Elements included in the project were standardized questionnaires, guideline-based interviews and focus groups with insurance holders of AOK-Nordost, participants of online prevention courses, users of a hypertension app, as well as family doctors and cardiologists. In addition, routine data from statutory health insurers were analyzed as a valuable data source for outcomes research in Germany. In this way the project team identified barriers to, and success factors for, the use of digital health options.
The whitepaper
The whitepaper summarizes the key findings and gives explicit recommendations on how to improve digital prevention in future:
- targeting vulnerable groups – the elderly or low-income groups
- promoting digital health competences, e.g. via easily understandable and low-threshold options
- integrating digital options into patient care – in close cooperation between family doctors and specialists
- establishing transparent criteria and continuous evaluation in order to make quality and effect of such options measurable
The whitepaper constitutes a sound basis to further develop digital prevention of hypertension. Findings must now be put into practice. Psychologist Dunja Bruch who heads the project sums up as follows: “Digital technologies can notably improve the treatment of hypertension. But the potential has hardly been tapped so far. Targeted support is required to change this situation: for patients, for medical professionals, for building a reliable technical infrastructure. Our recommendations illustrate how access and use in daily practice can be facilitated.”
The complete whitepaper can be downloaded here:
MHB-WhitePaper-DIGITAL-20032025.pdf
For more information on the project see the official MHB website:
