Reconceptualising the digital maturity of health systems

This paper in Lancet Digital Health offers a new framework of measuring digital excellence where digital maturity can be tailored to the needs of local populations and build upon their existing institutional and technological infrastructures.

There is international consensus that health systems need to be digitally enabled, but large-scale digital transformation initiatives have typically struggled to balance national priorities with local needs. There is also little consensus over how to define or measure digital excellence in healthcare, which makes it difficult to evaluate digital transformation projects. The most widely used assessment is the 8-stage Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) Electronic Medical Record Adoption Model, but this focuses almost exclusively on technological functionality rather than human and organisational capabilities. It also focuses on data exchange within hospitals rather than with other healthcare bodies, e.g. in primary or social care.

The authors, including UCL’s Henry Potts (IHI) and Bryony Dean Franklin (School of Pharmacy), are carrying out an evaluation of the NHS England’s Global Digital Exemplar Programme. This work has highlighted limitations in the HIMSS and the need for a model of digital excellence where digital maturity can be tailored to the needs of local populations and build upon their existing institutional and technological infrastructures. It is important to recognise that different settings need to make constant re-assessments of their existing and desired digital state over time as goals, IT solutions, and policies change.

You can access the full paper on The Lancet Digital Health website. 

The paper's full citation is: Cresswell K, Sheikh A, Krasuka M, Heeney C, Dean Franklin B, Lane W, Mozaffar H, Mason K, Eason S, Hinder S, Potts HWW, Williams R (2019). Reconceptualising the digital maturity of health systems. The Lancet Digital Health, 1(5), e200-1. doi: 10.1016/S2589-7500(19)30083-4