Abstract
Objectives
Increasing healthcare organizations’ digital innovation readiness is crucial to ensuring future availability, accessibility, affordability, and quality of healthcare. This study identifies themes that contribute to the digital innovation readiness of healthcare organizations.
Methods
A qualitative study was conducted using 17 semi-structured interviews among multiple stakeholders, clustered into 5 groups—academics, consultants, (top) managers (e.g., CIO/CEO), digital innovation managers, and primary care workers with digital innovation as a field of interest. Thematic analysis was used to analyze data.
Results
Five themes that contribute to digital innovation readiness of healthcare organizations were identified—strategic guidance, organization, adaptive climate, leading digital innovation, and digital foundation.
Conclusions
This study identifies themes that contribute to digital innovation readiness of healthcare organizations, helping such organizations prepare to innovate using digital technologies. Future research should validate these themes and explore interrelationships among them.
Lay summary
Healthcare organizations worldwide are experiencing multiple socio-economic challenges, such as ageing populations, rising healthcare complexities, and labor shortages. To ensure future availability, accessibility, affordability, and quality of healthcare, healthcare organizations must innovate digitally, despite many struggling to innovate using digital technologies because they lack organizational readiness. This study explores what helps healthcare organizations to become ready for digital innovation. Through interviews with a diverse group of stakeholders, five themes emerged: (1) strategic guidance, (2) organization, (3) adaptive climate, (4) leading digital innovation and (5) digital foundation. Strengthening these areas can help healthcare organizations become more ready to innovate digitally.
Increasing healthcare organizations’ digital innovation readiness is crucial to ensuring future availability, accessibility, affordability, and quality of healthcare. This study identifies themes that contribute to the digital innovation readiness of healthcare organizations.
Methods
A qualitative study was conducted using 17 semi-structured interviews among multiple stakeholders, clustered into 5 groups—academics, consultants, (top) managers (e.g., CIO/CEO), digital innovation managers, and primary care workers with digital innovation as a field of interest. Thematic analysis was used to analyze data.
Results
Five themes that contribute to digital innovation readiness of healthcare organizations were identified—strategic guidance, organization, adaptive climate, leading digital innovation, and digital foundation.
Conclusions
This study identifies themes that contribute to digital innovation readiness of healthcare organizations, helping such organizations prepare to innovate using digital technologies. Future research should validate these themes and explore interrelationships among them.
Lay summary
Healthcare organizations worldwide are experiencing multiple socio-economic challenges, such as ageing populations, rising healthcare complexities, and labor shortages. To ensure future availability, accessibility, affordability, and quality of healthcare, healthcare organizations must innovate digitally, despite many struggling to innovate using digital technologies because they lack organizational readiness. This study explores what helps healthcare organizations to become ready for digital innovation. Through interviews with a diverse group of stakeholders, five themes emerged: (1) strategic guidance, (2) organization, (3) adaptive climate, (4) leading digital innovation and (5) digital foundation. Strengthening these areas can help healthcare organizations become more ready to innovate digitally.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 101105 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| Journal | Health Policy and Technology |
| Volume | 14 |
| Issue number | 6 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Dec 2025 |
Keywords
- Digital innovation
- Digital innovation readiness
- Healthcare
- Interview study