Why integration, not innovation, is the real-world challenge facing digital health

Digital health is routinely celebrated for its transformative potential, yet its track record in delivering consistent, meaningful and sustained change in clinical practice remains uneven.1 The pace of technological innovation continues to outstrip our capacity to embed these tools into the complex realities of healthcare delivery.2 What is often missing from the conversation is not better technology, but rather how we ensure effective integration: the deliberate alignment of digital systems with clinical workflows, organisational structures and patient needs. Two studies selected as Editors’ Choice in this issue of BMJ Health & Care Informatics illustrate this point well, each demonstrating how digital health can meaningfully shape care when it is woven into existing processes.