Improving health IT monitoring via an electronic system for the exchange between science and practice

Health information technology (IT) is a decisive factor for hospitals in optimizing the provision of healthcare services and many countries are interested in understanding, monitoring, and benchmarking the mechanisms of digital transformation on the national level. Part of this effort is the use of science-based maturity models to measure the level of digitization of healthcare institutions. The results of the maturity measurement are finally disseminated through science-practice dialogue concepts. The aim of this study is to develop and evaluate a technical platform to support this science-practice dialogue in the context of nationwide health IT monitoring in hospitals. Here users, the Chief Information Officer (CIO) in hospitals, provide data on the status of health IT in their institutions through a structured self-assessment on the platform. The data is analyzed and processed with scientific instruments, i.e. (1) according to scientifically established procedures of quantitative methodology and (2) in the context of current scientific findings and research questions. The individual findings are presented to the user on a dashboard. The platform comprises the six components , , , , and . All of them were developed pursuing the design science methodology. The evaluation of the platform revealed that it supports CIOs in IT strategic management. Usability tests showed that the platform increases user satisfaction. Within this study we could show how a science-practice dialogue to generate practical implications in the context of a nationwide health IT monitoring can be technically implemented.