Kaia COPD Included in DiGA in Germany
COPD digital app can now be prescribed by medical providers in Germany and will be covered by statutory health insurance.
Global digital therapeutics company Kaia Health’s Kaia COPD has been included in the DiGA directory by the German Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM) as a digital health application (DiGA). That means the digital application for the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) can now be prescribed by medical providers and will be covered by statutory health insurance. Kaia COPD is based on the national treatment guidelines for chronic respiratory disease and helps those affected to improve their health-related quality of life and physical performance.
Leading experts from the field of inpatient pulmonary rehabilitation were involved in the development of Kaia COPD, which makes important elements of pulmonary rehabilitation available in digital form via smartphone or tablet and enables patients with COPD to use a comprehensive therapeutic program anytime, anywhere.
The Kaia COPD app uses its Digital Coach, which uses artificial intelligence to support patients during exercises providing real-time visual and verbal feedback through the device to support the safe and correct execution of the exercises.
The efficacy of Kaia COPD has already been investigated twice in RCT (randomized control trial) for patients with COPD. In the pilot study Rassouli et al. (2018) found a clinically relevant improvement in health-related quality of life for patients who used the Kaia COPD app. The randomized controlled AMOPUR study showed an improvement in the health-related quality of life and an improvement in physical activity for patients in the Kaia COPD app group. A systematic data analysis with 104 patients in Germany has yielded equally positive results: over a period of twelve weeks, a statistically significant improvement in health-related quality of life (COPD Assessment Test Score) and physical performance (1-minute sit-to-stand test) could be observed.
REFERENCE: Kaia Health Now World's Most Widely Available Digital COPD Treatment with Approval for Prescription Covering 73 Million People in Germany.
