Bridging the trust gap: How to win clinician confidence in digital health

Why clinician trust impacts solution adoption

Rock Health reviewed 224 digital health technology companies with offerings related to clinical services, such as diagnosis, prevention, or treatment. When analyzing them for robustness of clinical evidence, it found that only 20% met rigorous clinical validation standards, while 44% scored 0 on their clinical robustness scale.

This, researchers noted, highlighted a significant gap in evidence and potential for companies to build an evidence base to help differentiate their solutions in the market.

Several countries have reacted to these gaps by heightening scrutiny of evidence in digital health technologies and how that evidence is developed.

Without trusted sources of evidence, technologies run the risk of creating barriers to usage and damage to their own credibility from:

• Workflow friction: Extra clicks or toggling between systems to find trusted evidence can contribute to clinician burnout.
• Unfamiliar or unvetted guidance: Clinicians unsure of the source of evidence in a digital solution will begin second-guessing the content, leading to lower adoption.
• Perceived bias or lack of transparency: Without a clear and rigorous editorial policy, healthcare professionals’ confidence in outputs will erode.
• Information gaps: Outdated or incomplete content undermines utility.

The value of evidence-based content in digital health tools

Clinicians today are engaging with patients across multiple channels, using tech tools to support ambient scribe-enabled visits, app-based follow-ups, and virtual consults. In these changing environments, the point of care is evolving into a point of decision. When healthcare professionals use technology tools to interact with patients or streamline decision-making processes, they need to be confident that their digital health tools will function not as static point solutions, but as dynamic care companions. Content and evidence to support decision-making must be more than accessible. It must be embedded, contextual, and actionable.

However, having in-workflow access to clinical decision support (CDS) content only builds trust and improves workflow efficiency if that content is:

• Evidence-based and peer-reviewed.
• Aligned with current clinical guidelines and linked to references.
• Familiar to clinicians, bringing brand recognition and good reputation in the clinical community.

Instant familiarity with a respected source of evidence reduces skepticism and concerns about bias or information transparency. That anchors the platform’s credibility in customer demos and RFPs and encourages faster onboarding and repeated platform use.

Evidence-based clinical content that healthcare professionals already trust and use throughout their patient care, research, and documentation processes helps turn digital health solutions into centralized, collaborative decision-making experiences. By embedding the content directly into solution workflows:

• Clinicians can focus their attention, saving time for more one-on-one interactions with patients.
• Health system leaders procure an efficient platform they can confidently present as clinically sound.
• Digital health platforms gain trust and boost adoption without adding engineering debt or slowing delivery timelines.

UpToDate Connect: Embedded clinical intelligence that lends credibility

When digital health tech companies embed resources like UpToDate® — trusted by 2 million clinicians worldwide — they accelerate adoption curves by giving users guidance and evidence they already recognize and rely on, without forcing them to leave the workflow.

Now digital health tech developers have access to UpToDate® Connect, offering an API integration that delivers the power of UpToDate directly within their platform’s workflow to streamline processes, support confident clinical decision-making, drive better patient outcomes, and support emerging AI healthcare workflows.

UpToDate is the most widely used clinical decision support resource in the U.S., which helps lend credibility and trust to digital health solutions in the eyes of clinician users:

• Preferred and relied on by clinicians in over 90% of hospitals.
• Evidence-based content is authored and continuously updated by more than 7,600 experts, ensuring that clinicians have access to the latest guidance when and where they need it.
• Since 2022, there has been an 8.4% increase in usage of UpToDate by clinicians.
• By standardizing evidence and guidance, UpToDate helps healthcare systems reduce unwarranted variability in care.

By providing clinicians with clear recommendations and actionable clinical information no matter how routine, complex, or nuanced their question, UpToDate Connect supports and enhances a professional’s clinical reasoning, but does not replace it. With that type of trusted resource embedded within digital health workflows, it helps health tech solutions counter workflow friction with contextualized clinical intelligence that improves user engagement and retention.

Explore the new UpToDate Connect solution for digital health tech developers.