Organizational e-Health Readiness: How to Prepare the Primary Healthcare Providers’ Services for Digital Transformation

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has had two main consequences for the organization of treatment in primary healthcare: restricted patients’ access to medical facilities and limited social mobility. In turn, these consequences pose a great challenge for patients and healthcare providers, i.e., the limited personal contact with medical professionals. This can be eased by new digital technology. While providing solutions to many problems, this technology poses several organizational challenges for healthcare system participants. As the current global situation and the outbreak of the humanitarian crisis in Europe show, these and other likely emergencies amplify the need to learn the lessons and prepare organizations for exceptional rapid changes. Therefore, a question arises of whether organizations are ready to use modern e-health solutions in the context of a rapidly and radically changing situation, and how this readiness can be verified. The aim of this article is to clarify the organizational e-heath readiness concept of Polish primary healthcare units. This study employs the triangulation of analytical methods, as it uses: (i) a literature review of e-health readiness assessment, (ii) primary data obtained with a survey (random sampling of 371 managers of PHC facilities across Poland) and (iii) the Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) method, employed to estimate the structural model. The evaluation of the model revealed that its concept was adequate for more mature entities that focus on the patient- and employee-oriented purpose of digitization, and on assuring excellent experience derived from a consistent care process. In the context of patients’ restricted access to medical facilities and limited social mobility, a simpler version of the research model assesses the readiness more adequately. Finally, the study increases the knowledge base of assets (resources and capabilities), which will help healthcare systems better understand the challenges surrounding the adoption and scaling of e-health technologies.

Human resource management (HRM) strategies of medical staff during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…The effective, optimal, reliable and adaptable design of medical robots require the cooperation of engineers, physicians, government and industry, and also compliance with the safety, confidentiality and clinical trial standards [ 67 , 68 ]. Preparedness of health care organizations to use digital health and their access to medical facilities are among vital factors that should be considered in future crises [ 69 ]. Further studies are needed to identify the challenges of digital health such as policy-making, legal and technical issues, privacy, security, reimbursement, data integration, and user-friendliness [ 70 ] with the aim of replacing and revolutionizing the current health care delivery systems [ 71 ].…”

Telepsychiatry readiness assessment at the Department of Psychiatry, Dr. Soeharto Heerdjan Hospital, Indonesia

“…The use of telemedicine is particularly beneficial for patients diagnosed with mental disorders (such as agoraphobia and anxiety disorders) who might otherwise not seek treatment due to difficulty leaving their homes or because they experience anxiety when participating in face-to-face treatment modalities (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). It can facilitate medical care at home without the patient needing to go to the hospital (Kaufman et al, 2020; Kruszyńska-Fischbach et al, 2022; Severe et al, 2020).…”

Telemedicine and E-Health User Readiness in Public Sector of Pakistan

“…15 Private and public sector health organizations are providing services to more than 220 million people in Pakistan and there is immense need to develop and implement national health management information system to collect, record, the data and process the data into meaningful health information which could consist of input, process and output dimensiosn. 16,17 As declared by World Health Organization (WHO) (2020) about pandemic has urged the need of digital transformation. COVID-19 Pandemic has made the health system more complex and this complexity is continuously increasing.…”