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. 2021 Mar 1;28(3):494-503.
doi: 10.1093/jamia/ocaa255.

A digital health profile & maturity assessment toolkit: cocreation and testing in the Pacific Islands

Siaw-Teng Liaw  1 , Rui Zhou  2 , Sameera Ansari  1 , Jun Gao  2
Affiliations

A digital health profile & maturity assessment toolkit: cocreation and testing in the Pacific Islands

Siaw-Teng Liaw et al. J Am Med Inform Assoc. .

Abstract

Introduction: Countries need to determine their level of digital health capability maturity to assess and mobilize their knowledge, skills, and resources to systematically develop, implement, evaluate, scale up and maintain large-scale implementations of standards-based interoperable digital health tools.

Objective: Develop a Digital Health Profile and Maturity Assessment Toolkit (DHPMAT) to assist Pacific Island Countries (PICs) to harness digital tools to support national health priorities.

Materials and methods: A literature review guided the development of the conceptual framework to underpin the DHPMAT. Key informants collaborated to collect key digital health features and indicators to inform their country's digital health maturity assessment. The DHPMAT was tested with country stakeholders at a Pacific Health Information Network workshop in 2019.

Results: A comprehensive list of indicators to describe country digital health profiles (DHP). A digital health maturity assessment tool that uses criteria codeveloped with country stakeholders to assess essential digital health foundations and quality improvement. DHPs created and maturity assessed and packaged into individualized DHPMATs for 13 PICs. PIC users perceived the DHPMAT as useful, especially the congruence with the 2017 WHO WPRO Regional Strategy but noted a "cognitive overload" from a plethora of complex digital health toolkits.

Conclusions: The cocreation approach optimized currency, accuracy, and appropriateness of information in the DHP, understanding, and use of the DHPMAT to facilitate informed iterative discussion by PICs on their digital health maturity to harness digital tools to strengthen country health systems. The DHPMAT can rationalize the choice and use of existing tools and reduce cognitive overload.

Keywords: cocreation; digital health; evaluation; implementation; informatics; maturity assessment.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Health services oriented digital health framework.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
(a) Digital Health Maturity Assessment Tool (DHMAT) with descriptors and examples for each maturity level. (b) A Quality Improvement, Measurement, Monitoring, and Evaluation (QIMME) maturity scale.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
An activity planning guide to achieve the desired Digital Health Maturity to support the relevant health priority.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
An example of a user journey with the DHPMAT.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Digital Health WHA71.7, Seventy-First World Health Assembly (2018). Geneva: World Health Organization.
    1. World Health Organization. Regional Action Agenda on Harnessing E-Health for Improved Health Service Delivery in the Western Pacific. Manila: WHO Western Pacific Regional Office; 2017
    1. World Health Organization Global Observatory for eHealth. Global Diffusion of eHealth: making Universal Health Coverage Achievable. Report of the Third Global Survey on eHealth. Geneva: WHO; 2016.
    1. Carvalho JV, Rocha Á, Abreu A.. Maturity models of healthcare information systems and technologies: a literature review. J Med Syst 2016; 40 (6): 131. - PubMed
    1. Ansari S, Godinho M, Jonnagaddala J, et al. A systematic review of toolkits for implementation and evaluation of digital health interventions. PROSPERO CRD42019147273 2019. https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/display_record.php? ID=CRD42019147273 Accessed December 20, 2019.

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