Digital Maturity in Healthcare Organizations: A Conceptual Framework for Assessing Technology Adaptation and Organizational Readiness

Author

Vaishali Laxman Tidke , Dr. Rameshwar R. Chavan


Abstract

 Healthcare organizations are adopting digital technologies at a pace that has changed the way many clinical and administrative activities are performed. Electronic health records, hospital information systems, telemedicine, artificial intelligence, digital diagnostic systems, patient-monitoring technologies and data analytics are now found in different parts of healthcare delivery. However, the presence of several digital technologies within a hospital does not necessarily mean that the hospital has achieved a high level of digital maturity. A hospital may have modern systems but still face difficulties related to interoperability, employee skills, data management, cybersecurity, leadership support and patient engagement.

The distinction between technology adoption and digital maturity provides the starting point for this conceptual paper. The purpose of the paper is to develop an integrated conceptual framework for assessing digital maturity and organizational readiness in healthcare organizations, particularly multi-speciality hospitals. The paper reviews literature on digital maturity, digital health capability, technology acceptance, organizational technology adoption and organizational capabilities. Existing maturity literature indicates that hospital digital maturity extends beyond information technology infrastructure and includes areas such as strategy, interoperability, governance, patient-centred care, people and skills, and data analytics.

Based on the literature, the paper proposes eight dimensions of healthcare digital maturity: digital strategy and leadership; technology infrastructure and capability; interoperability and system integration; data and analytics; governance, cybersecurity and risk management; people, skills and organizational culture; patient-centred digital capability; and innovation and continuous improvement. These dimensions are brought together with organizational readiness to form the proposed Healthcare Digital Maturity and Organizational Readiness Framework (HDMORF). The framework also proposes five broad maturity stages: Initial, Emerging, Integrated, Advanced and Transformative. The paper argues that digital maturity should be understood as an organizational capability rather than simply as the number or sophistication of technologies installed. The framework may be useful to hospital administrators, policymakers, accreditation bodies and researchers seeking to assess the preparedness of healthcare organizations for sustained digital transformation.



Keywords

Digital Maturity, Healthcare Organizations, Digital Health, Technology Adaptation, Organizational Readiness, Healthcare Technology, Digital Transformation, Multi-speciality Hospitals



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