Circular Business Model for Digital Health Solutions: A Scoping Review (Preprint)
Authors: Rønn Camille , Wieland Andreas , Lehrer Christiane , LaRoche Jason , Specker Adrien , Márton Attila , Fürstenau Daniel 
Published: July 2024

BACKGROUND

The health sector accounts for 4.6% of global greenhouse gas emissions which is primarily due to its heavy reliance on the production and sale of single-use medical devices. This type of business model results in high daily volumes of medical waste, contributing to the carbon footprint of the sector. With digitalization entering healthcare’s value propositions, we see a growing adoption of digital health solutions. Digital health leads the industry into a new paradigm of how we provide healthcare and will shape the industry through the usage of technology and lead to improved patient care. However, it will also make the medical waste problem more complex to deal with the new addition of electronic components. In this regard, an emerging focus on circular business models is taking place to reduce the healthcare player’s environmental impact.

OBJECTIVE

This scoping review aimed to summarize and review the current literature on circular business models for digital health solutions and provide a starting point for future related research.

METHODS

This paper presents the results of a scoping review using three search strings in Scopus and Web of Science. The search strings focus on (1) Circular business model, and the physical and digital components of a digital health solution: (2) hardware, and (3) software. Furthermore, a backward search was performed to identify additional relevant sources. Using the coding software NVivo, the studies were classified and summarized based on a predetermined set of categories. Those categories are: circular economy principles, business model characteristics, and product type.

RESULTS

From a search hit of 90151 across databases, 398 followed the exclusion criteria, and 30 relevant papers were selected based on the inclusion criteria. The screening process was guided by the pre-determined inclusion/exclusions criteria: Focus on healthcare or related industries, business models and their stakeholders, peer-reviewed, and published after 2010. Summarizing the results, most articles considered the circular principle 2 (83%; 25/30), thereafter principle 1 (40%; 12/30), and at last principle 3 (13%; 4/30). Several circular R-strategies were considered such as recycling (63%; 19/30), reusing (67%; 20/30), repairing (60%; 18/30), and remanufacturing (50%; 15/30). The majority of the articles include aspects from a business model’s value proposition (83%; 25/30) and delivery (90%; 27/30), with half focusing on value capture (53%; 16/30). The products covered in the studies are mostly medical products (70%; 21/30) with few non-medical digital products included (30%; 9/30).

CONCLUSIONS

Research on circular economy in healthcare is still at an early stage, and studies specifically focusing on circular economy for digital health are almost non-existent. The review proposes a set of future research questions based on the business model structure: Value proposition, delivery, and capture.

INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT

RR2-10.2196/47874