Payors, Caregivers, and Teens: Aligning Priorities for Effective Digital Mental Health Tools

Digital mental health (DMH) tools are a promising solution to the growing need for mental health care among teens because of their scalability and accessibility. Yet the key stakeholders-payors (who reimburse), caregivers (who facilitate adoption and access), and teens aged 13-17 (the primary users of these tools)-often have conflicting priorities. These misaligned priorities can limit investment in tools that align with user needs and promote long-term engagement, ultimately hindering the effective deployment of DMH tools for teens. This viewpoint paper outlines payor, caregiver, and teen priorities for DMH tools and proposes novel strategies to align these priorities. We argue that this alignment is critical for driving meaningful improvements in teen well-being.