The ongoing digitization of the healthcare sector is also resulting in far-reaching changes in processes, products, procedures and business models. However, network effects, information asymmetries, opportunistic behaviour and... [ view full abstract ]
The ongoing digitization of the healthcare sector is also resulting in far-reaching changes in processes, products, procedures and business models. However, network effects, information asymmetries, opportunistic behaviour and negative evaluations can have an impact on the decisions and voting behaviour of citizens as well as on the effectiveness and sustainability of health care. In addition, increasing digitization may reduce the possibility of equal opportunities between technology-oriented and technology-averse citizens. Such impairments and effects have not yet been sufficiently researched in the health sector. It is also unclear to what extent and how participation can have an influence on the sustainable design of a digital ecosystem in the health system. In this context, platforms play an important role, because they are exposed to network effects and can thus lead to dysfunctional social distribution and participation processes (BKA, 2015). “Internet platforms bring together different user groups and offer users a wide range of search, information, communication and transaction options. The use of these offers is usually accompanied to a considerable extent by the price and passing on of private data. The opportunities for backtracking and analysis of platform user behaviour offer companies a wide range of opportunities for developing new business models and for the commercial exploitation of the private data generated in this context “(BKA, 2015, p. 4).
The digital ecosystem describes an open information landscape (Dini and Nicolai 2007), with particular emphasis on the adaptability, dynamics and self-organizing mechanisms of inter-organizational information systems. It includes a holistic perspective on the inter-organizational system of action. Actors and innovations can develop competitively, independently and co-evolutionarily. If it is possible to generate and maintain a critical mass of users, successes can be achieved in particular with regard to economic and social sustainability. The platform has basic infrastructure components and services and is thus the breeding ground for the further development of a digital ecosystem. Accordingly, platforms form the core on which the organic development of the digital ecosystem is built. The aim should be to allow for the continuous adaptation of platforms, responding to both technical innovations and stakeholders. This means that unequal treatment resulting from the exclusion of actors can be avoided in advance. Although the technological sustainability component serves as a basis for long-term solutions, the inclusion of all sustainability dimensions is indispensable for the sustainability assessment of the overall system (Müller-Mielitz, Lux 2016).
The main focus of the project is to understand and analyse the overall system consisting of the ecosystem health care, sustainability and digital assessment platforms depending on network effects, specific user groups and their participation as well as existing information asymmetries. Mixed Method and Mixed Mode Approaches are applied in order to get reliable data (survey and interviews). These are used to derive concrete recommendations for the design of (assessment) platforms, quality dimensions and certification criteria for holistically sustainable digital platforms.
Keywords: digitization, health system, health platform, sustainability effects, network effects
8b. Health and well-being
