Cost-effectiveness analysis of mHealth applications for depression in Germany using a Markov cohort simulation

Regulated mobile health applications are called digital health applications ("DiGA") in Germany. To qualify for reimbursement by statutory health insurance companies, DiGA have to prove positive care effects in scientific studies. Since the empirical exploration of DiGA cost-effectiveness remains largely uncharted, this study pioneers the methodology of cohort-based state-transition Markov models to evaluate DiGA for depression. As health states, we define mild, moderate, severe depression, remission and death. Comparing a future scenario where 50% of patients receive supplementary DiGA access with the current standard of care reveals a gain of 0.02 quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) per patient, which comes at additional direct costs of ~1536 EUR per patient over a five-year timeframe. Influencing factors determining DiGA cost-effectiveness are the DiGA cost structure and individual DiGA effectiveness. Under Germany's existing cost structure, DiGA for depression are yet to demonstrate the ability to generate overall savings in healthcare expenditures.