Healthcare Innovation in Greece: The Views of Private Health Entrepreneurs on Implementing Innovative Plans

Abstract

In the field of healthcare innovation, Greece ranks 26th in FREOPP’s World Index of Healthcare Innovation (WIHI) 2021 analysis. Such a standing illustrates low performance in the dimensions of quality, science and technology and fiscal sustainability. This article seeks to shed light on this backwardness and examine the obstacles and weaknesses in the development of innovative projects by Greek health entrepreneurs. Furthermore, this research aims to trace entrepreneurs’ views on innovation issues and assess the existence of innovative plans from four perspectives: at the level of service to citizens, in the functionality of health business structures, at the level of facilities and technology, and in a clinical setting. Qualitative research was conducted with the entrepreneurs of 12 health companies in the form of semi-structured interviews. This study has shown that healthcare entrepreneurs do not reject the development of innovative projects and that those who have implemented innovative practices have had positive results; however, various obstacles negatively impact the implementation of innovative ideas. A primary research contribution will capture the factors that negatively affect the development of innovative projects and represent a crucial element for Greece to remove barriers and improve its performance on innovation issues. The results of the research will provide support for not only innovation decision-making centres but also other health entrepreneurs.

Strategic Dimensions Affecting to Innovation Performance in the Healthcare Sector: A Systematic Literature Analysis

“…Studies emphasize that employees will be encouraged through leadership and management (Asurakkody & Shin, 2018) and that senior management support positively affects the development of innovation practices (Aburayya et al, 2020). Another study emphasized that the legal framework and policies should support the development of innovative projects (Apostolopoulos et al, 2022). The importance of management and policy support is an undeniable fact in bringing together and sustaining all these dimensions that positively support innovation, such as innovation becoming a culture, supporting the innovation of employees, providing an environment of knowledge sharing, establishing collaboration with stakeholders, and bringing together the factors that support innovation.…”

“…(Afsar & Umrani, 2020;Ahmed et al, 2019;el Desoky et al, 2021;Andiappan & Anih, 2022;Ciasullo et al, 2021;Foglia et al, 2018;Hesam Jahanmiri et al, 2021;Liu & Zeinaly, 2020;Lv et al, 2021;Marques et al, 2021;Milella et al, 2021;Mutonyi et al, 2021a;Opoku et al, 2021;Oppi et al, 2019;(Ahmed et al, 2019;Mutonyi et al, 2021a;Palm & Persson Fischier, 2021) Policy And Management Support(Aburayya et al, 2020;Asurakkody & Shin, 2018;Apostolopoulos et al, 2022;Dias et al, 2018;Marjanovic et al, 2020) Technology(Khodadad-Saryazdi, 2021;Lv et al, 2021) Our systematic analysis observed that the studies we examined were sources pointing to more than one dimension (Table1).When the studies pointing to more than one dimension are considered; human resource and leadership dimensions of the study conducted by Afsar & Umrani, 2020; leadership and knowledge acquisition and sharing dimensions of the study conducted byAsurakkody & Kim, 2020; human resource and organizational culture dimensions of the study conducted by organizational culture and technology dimensions of the study conducted by Khodadad-Saryazdi, 2021 ; human resource and knowledge acquisition and sharing dimensions of the study conducted by Liu & Zeinaly, 2020; human resource and technology dimensions of the study conducted by Lv et al, 2021; human resource and technology dimensions; Mutonyi et al, 2021a; human resource and organizational structure dimensions; Mutonyi et al, 2021b; leadership and organizational culture dimensions; Zappalà et al, 2020; human resource and leadership dimensions.…”

The role of open innovation in addressing resource constraints in healthcare: a systematic literature review

“…In extreme cases, if some actors' values are not generated within the open innovation process, these actors may decide to leave the ecosystem, as in the example of the Greek ecosystem, where the health innovators abandon the ecosystem due to challenging relationships with public health structures and insurance organisations. (Apostolopoulos et al ., 2022), which may hinder their ability to generate value (Chesbrough et al ., 2018). Identifying the stakeholders is a recommended starting point for each eHealth project (Nilsen et al ., 2020).…”

“…Finding investment for innovative solutions under strained budgets can be challenging (Gentry and Badrinath, 2017). Indeed, studies about barriers to innovation implementation in healthcare often cite reimbursement and cost issues and mention these amongst the top reasons for the non-implementation of innovation (de Grood et al ., 2016; Medlinskiene et al ., 2021; Peiffer et al ., 2019; Thijssen et al ., 2021; Warty et al ., 2021; Apostolopoulos et al ., 2022).…”

Sustainable Rural Healthcare Entrepreneurship: A Case Study of Serbia

“…This would be a new problem that does not exist in the current out-of-pocket payments. This has already been identified as a potential threat to the sustainability of private medical practices in Greece [81]. Secondly, state-owned health service providers need to be supported through targeted projects to become more competitive in the market and able to bill services to out-of-pocket patients.…”