An analysis of the transferability of E-Health solutions
Creators: name: Zwicker, Manuel
Publisher: name: RMIT University
Year: 2024

description: Countries like the member states of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) are confronted with several challenges: technological changes, longer life expectancy, population aging and rising health expenditure. The resulting cost pressure forces these countries to change their healthcare systems. As the usage of ICTs especially in e-health solutions is the answer, countries are developing their own national e-health solutions. However, two significant problems arise: firstly, these national e-health solutions are platform centric, meaning that they are suboptimal and not in line with the doctrine of network centric healthcare; secondly, an own development is very costly and time consuming. Consequently, the research question “How can different e-health solutions be transferred to other countries?” is investigated. The methodology used for this exploratory study is based on a mixed research approach. Thereby, an exemplar case study in Australia and an exemplar case study in Germany are conducted. The case study in Australia and the case study in Germany involve unstructured interviews with e-health stakeholders and a questionnaire based on closed-ended questions for the general public. Further, in both countries, an ethnographic study was conducted at a hospital. Thematic analysis is used for analysis of the interview data. The three a priori themes are key factors, barriers and facilitators. <br><br>The key results of the interviews are presented for each focus (i.e. national, transfer, global) in a separate table. Within each table, the findings are separated for each country and are assigned to the a priori themes as expected findings or emerging findings. Further, the emerging themes are identified and outlined for each focus. Moreover, based on all key findings, the significant findings, such as laws, healthcare systems and culture could be identified. The questionnaire results show that only a few participants are informed about the e-health solution of their country. Furthermore, it is stated that 46 % of the 52 informed participants think that the transferability of e-health solutions across countries is possible. Additionally, there is overall no clear tendency visible that a global e-health solution is seen to be possible in the future. The results of the ethnographic study show that there exist similarities and differences in the context of hip and knee surgeries among the chosen hospitals in Australia and Germany. Further, it is mentioned that e-health solutions on a single stakeholder and national level are suboptimal, if they only address internal issues and are not being designed with a network centric perspective. Therefore, it is stated that the transfer of one suitable national e-health solution to other countries is one way, how countries can implement a national e-health solution with a global/network centric perspective, which is in this way likewise beneficial for the single stakeholders, if they consider and integrate the national e-health solutions into their own e-health solutions and further into their processes, technologies and people. Based on these findings, the discussion is performed. In this way, also the triangulation of the findings is conducted. At the end, the research question and its three sub-questions are answered.<br><br>