The Nordic Digital Health and Evaluation Criteria (NordDEC) programme aims to enable healthcare providers across Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, and Iceland to evaluate and identify trusted digital health technologies within healthcare and preventive care. It will also provide guidance to product developers and technology owners, so they have clear parameters when planning new products and market access strategies. The accreditation framework was developed by the Organisation for the Review of Care and Health Apps (ORCHA) and the project was funded jointly by NIP and the Nordic healthtech industry.
Digital health products are tested against more than 500 measures across data and technical security, clinical assurance, and usability. New criteria such as evidence of penetration (PEN) and vulnerability testing will also be required to provide further safety and effectiveness assurance. This has been a landmark project for ORCHA, and all the countries involved, and the learning can be rolled-out across other geographical regions. It also gives suppliers a good springboard to easily meet the requirements to enter other geographies, such as the UK, Netherlands, Canada, and the US.