Overcoming Diffusion Barriers of Digital Health Innovations Conception of an Assessment Method

Abstract

Digital health innovations (DHI) contribute to improving the health sector by revitalizing availability and continuity of care as well as mitigating rising costs. DHI getting increasing support from health insurance companies and governmental institutions, but still struggle on their way to standard care in national healthcare systems. One of the central challenges is the multitude of barriers, which are either little known or difficult to handle in complexity and therefore pose a high risk for the translation into the healthcare reality. This paper steps into this discourse with a design-oriented research approach. A systematic literature review identified DHI barriers that are further translated to a concept for assessing barrier resilience. On that basis, a framework to systematically administer diffusion barriers to DHI in Germany was developed. Innovators may use the proposed framework to assess the likelihood of a successful implementation and to ensure smooth scaling up process of their DHI.