Unleashing innovation in first-line healthcare: The barriers to realizing platform openness

PURPOSE

Digital platforms are essential for fostering innovation in first-line healthcare. These platforms require openness, allowing external parties to utilize, enhance, or profit from them. Yet, knowledge about barriers to realizing platform openness is lacking. This research investigates the barriers to realizing platform openness in first-line healthcare.

METHOD

This research employed a qualitative exploratory approach. We collected data through thirteen semi-structured interviews with platform experts, application developers, and healthcare practitioners. As a study setting, we focused on Dutch first-line healthcare. We then analyzed the data using thematic analysis.

RESULT

We identify barriers in three main categories that hinder platform openness: technology-related (e.g., redundancy in development work), business-related (e.g., profit-maximizing strategy), and healthcare-related (e.g., reluctance to change).

SCIENTIFIC CONTRIBUTION

We contribute to the platform literature in medical informatics by being among the first to examine openness barriers that hinder platform-based innovation. We thus explain why platform implementations often do not result in substantial improvements in healthcare delivery despite their transformative impact in other industries.

The role of digitalization in business and management: a systematic literature review

Digitalization is a powerful engine for economic growth in the world. In 2018, digitally transformed firms represented 13.5 billion US dollars of global GDP and, towards the end of 2023, they are expected to represent 53.3 billion US dollars, over half of the general nominal GDP (Statista, Nominal GDP driven by digitally transformed and other enterprises worldwide 2018–2023. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1134766/nominal-gdp-driven-by-digitally-transformed-enterprises/, 2022). The main objective of this study is to provide information (highlighting principal research topics and research agendas) from the literature on state-of-the-art digitalization within firms through a Systematic Literature Review (SLR). In all, 119 review articles on the most mature functional areas of the firm are analyzed: management, marketing, and finance and accounting, published in the WOS over the period 2018-April 2022. In this study, key relevant tendencies are identified in the most mature areas of the firm, which are the impact of digital technologies on the analysis of consumer behavior; digitalization and green innovation within organizations; and blockchain technology applied to financial services. The main contributions of this work are as follows: (1) to provide the most complete and up-to-date review of digitalization from a global perspective, summarizing the current state of knowledge within an integrated framework; (2) to reduce the complexity of digitalization by offering structure and clarity; and (3) to offer links between digitalization and established points of view in the literature on management, marketing, finance, and accounting. The novelty of this paper is centered on a joint analysis of digitalization, digital transformation, and digital technologies, taking into account the most mature functional areas of the firm.

How can interoperability stimulate the use of digital public services? An analysis of national interoperability frameworks and e-Government in the European Union

This article explores the role of interoperability in the development of digital public services in Europe, analyzing the effects of an European Union (EU)-level initiative (the European interoperability framework, EIF) and the development of e-Government services on how citizens interact online with public administrations. The EIF is a common EU framework providing guidance on public sector interoperability. EU countries are not mandated to follow the EIF, but they are encouraged to take up its guidance in their respective national interoperability frameworks (NIFs). Against this background, this article tests two hypotheses: (a) the introduction of NIFs facilitates the online interaction between citizens and public administrations and (b) better e-Government services encourage citizens to interact online with public administrations. Both hypotheses are confirmed by a panel data analysis covering 26 European countries over the period 2012–2019. The analysis relies on a dummy variable reflecting the adoption of NIFs, built by carefully examining official documents of the countries in the scope of the analysis. Based on the empirical results, this article puts forward two main policy recommendations. First, efforts to improve e-Government services across Europe should be intensified in order to support the overarching digital agenda of the EU and increase benefits for European citizens. Second, interoperability should become a central element when designing new digital public services. Therefore, the European Commission could foster a common approach to interoperability of digital public services across the EU by strengthening the governance of interoperability initiatives and encouraging the adoption of specific interoperability requirements.