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- Ubie has taken the lead in implementing a new standard of measurement to evaluate health and economic impact for global digital health startups
- The framework uses the pharmaceutical industry's standard of Quality-Adjusted Life Years (QALY) to provide a widely-accepted and transparent impact measurement
- Preliminary results support the ability of Ubie's AI Symptom Checker to deliver early intervention for patients through differential diagnoses to improve outcomes
With a lack of practical examples of this theory in practice, Ubie is helping to define a new standard of how to measure and manage impact, mainly based on teamwork developed by the Value Balancing Alliance (VBA), and identify meaningful indicators to translate social impact.
The framework adopts the industry-standard QALY metric, combining a person's length of life with their quality of life, to evaluate the effectiveness of medical treatments and health outcomes. The economic value was calculated by estimating the sum of health outcomes contributed to patient lifetime value (LTV) and converted to monetary value based on the VBA's Health Cluster Social Impact of Innovative Medicine methodology. This ensures that outcomes are universally understandable and accepted.
"Developing a system where we can implement a social impact indicators framework ties directly to our vision of creating a world where quality health is accessible to everyone. Our ability to gather both qualitative and quantitative data is how Ubie can assess its impact on patients and their journey through the healthcare system," said Kota Kubo, Ubie Co-Founder and Co-CEO. "Ubie's framework is aligned with industry best practices and designed to be used by all digital health startups who are looking for ways to measure and demonstrate their value, while continuously progressing the guidelines in order to best disclose impact."
The impact measurement and management (IMM) approach used by Ubie addresses key social issues such as the misalignment between patients and appropriate medical care and the optimization of medical resource allocation.
To conduct the assessment, Ubie formulated seven key performance indicators (KPIs) and two key goal indicators (KGIs) that are strongly connected to the Ubie's mission of guiding people to appropriate medical care through technology. KPIs included monthly active users, number of registered users, number of medical institution visits, number of confirmed diagnoses at time of consultation, number of treatments initiated at first consultation, evidence acquisition for behavior change and the overall contribution of the Ubie platform. KGIs included the increment of quality adjusted life years and health economic analysis, work productivity and activity impairment (WPAI).
Ubie also leveraged its database, existing medical publications and expert interviews to estimate the social impact created in collaboration with stakeholders, such as pharmaceutical companies and health care providers. The assessment focused on the 11 diseases and 18 treatment areas, including those with the highest disease burden and rare diseases. These outputs were measured using the following indicators: number of confirmed diagnoses at the time of the visit for Ubie users, estimated based on users' questionnaires; the treatment selection rate, estimated from various epidemiological evidence and expert interviews; the health outcome QALY expectation generated by the treatment, based on evidence from the health economics field; and the monetary value of QALY, looking at estimated direct paid effects.
The analysis was run using data from July 2021 to January 2024. It was conducted in Japan, which ranks among the top in the world for both average life expectancy and healthy life expectancy. It is estimated that approximately one-sixth of a person's life in Japan is impaired by illness.
While the findings are promising, Ubie acknowledges that the estimated impact should be viewed as a reference point and emphasizes the evolving nature of impact measurement. The company is dedicated to continuous improvement and transparency, actively addressing potential limitations and refining its methodology.
Future research priorities include:
- Comparing QALY with alternative measures of healthy life expectancy, such as the Sullivan method, to provide a more comprehensive view of impact.
- Isolating the specific impact attributable to Ubie's platform within the broader healthcare ecosystem, recognizing the contributions of pharmaceutical companies, healthcare providers, and other stakeholders.
- Accounting for potential data variations, including user demographics, disease selection, and the use of local QALY data, to ensure the robustness and generalizability of findings.
About Ubie
Founded in 2017, Ubie empowers individuals and healthcare professionals with the tools they need for better care. Leveraging cutting-edge disease prediction AI, Ubie guides 10+ million patients every month to seek appropriate medical attention through its free online Symptom Checker, and equips 1,500+ provider organizations with clinical tools that streamline workflows and support better diagnoses and health outcomes. Trained on medical data, Ubie's marketing solutions power advanced targeting capabilities and high-performing digital campaigns for 70% of the world's top life science companies.
Learn more about our vision and work at https://ubiehealth.com/company or try our free Symptom Checker at https://ubiehealth.com/.