Academia.edu no longer supports Internet Explorer.
To browse Academia.edu and the wider internet faster and more securely, please take a few seconds to upgrade your browser.
2009, Health Affairs
In the absence of organized markets, health technologies require a steward to promote diffusion.
Health Policy, 2011
In the last decade the pace of innovation in medical technology has accelerated: hence the need to better identify and understand the real forces behind the adoption and diffusion of medical technology innovations in clinical practice.
Health Affairs, 2009
Health Policy and Planning, 2011
Background The development of products and services for health care systems is one of the most important phenomena to have occurred in the field of health care over the last 50 years. It generates significant commercial, medical and social results. Although much has been done to understand how health technologies are adopted and regulated in developed countries, little attention has been paid to the situation in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs). Here we examine the institutional environment in which decisions are made regarding the adoption of expensive medical devices into the Brazilian health care system.
Health Policy, 2001
It is commonly known that per capita income is correlated with the level of health care spending and that technology is a major factor in explaining the increase in health care spending. This study examines differences in the rate of diffusion of medical technologies in Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries between 1975 and 1995. We find that the importance of income in explaining the long-term availability of a technology generally declines over time and becomes insignificant for some technologies. In other words, more affluent countries are earlier adopters of new technologies, but access to technology becomes less dependent on income over time. The evidence also suggests that the effects of reimbursement incentives are greater for purchases of diagnostic technologies than for lifesaving technologies and that reimbursement incentive effects are less significant for older technologies.
BMC Research Notes, 2023
translation systems and processes continue to be the primary source of medical device innovations. Unfortunately, innovations from low-and middle income countries (LMICs) still face numerous challenges in their translation, which means that a far greater proportion of them remain on the shelf without reaching the market. Some of the main challenges to innovation and translation in LMICs include high production costs, poor enabling infrastructure, and a lack of technological know-how among regulators and policymakers [3, 4]. Policies, guidelines, and regulations governing the translation of medical device innovations in LMICs may be unclear, not easy to find, or missing entirely [5]. Additionally, most LMICs lack R&D infrastructure and the funds needed to clinically validate medical devices, causing a gap in healthcare service innovation and preventing BMC Research Notes
IFMBE Proceedings, 2013
This paper outlines reasons for the urgent need, critical factors to consider, strategic approaches and above all the experience and features of our thriving health technology management (HTM) program in the developing world. The concept and practice of HTMs is still largely unknown to many national health systems in Africa, health research institutions and NGOs in many parts of the continent and perhaps in other least developed nations around the world. By sharing our story and introducing the HTM concept to as many stakeholders as possible within the national healthcare systems, and especially to the healthcare executives, policy makers and regional/hospital managers/administrators, this will in a long way alleviate major sticking problems especially associated within the initial phase of the HTM cycle; Acquisition of healthcare technologies-including donations! The establishment of our biomedical engineering department and an HTM system has brought major solutions to our inadequate maintenance capabilities, prolonged downtimes of equipment and the high maintenance costs that existed through existing service contracts.
Health Policy and Technology
Hospitals and health systems in high-income countries (HIC) develop the capacities of peer healthcare organizations around the world by diffusing clinical, quality, and public health improvement practices in lower and middle-income countries (LMIC). In turn, these HIC healthcare institutions are exposed to innovative approaches developed and used by global communities to advance care despite resource constraints in the LMIC contexts. Attention has been growing in recent years to the potential these innovations can have to improve care delivery, lower costs, and drive quality within resource constrained communities in HIC. Often referred to as 'reverse innovations,' the identification, adaptation, and diffusion of these practices face challenges in uptake related to limited evidence, perceptions of poor quality or irrelevance, and a complicated regulatory and policy environment. This paper suggests the development of a knowledge platform to support diffusion of innovative health practices along a global community continuum and illustrates its potential use.
Journal of Health Communication, 2014
The acknowledged potential of using mobile phones for improving healthcare in low-resource environments of developing countries has yet to translate into significant mHealth policy investment. The low uptake of mHealth in policy agendas may stem from a lack of evidence of the scalable, sustainable impact on health indicators. The mHealth literature in low- and middle-income countries reveals a burgeoning body of knowledge; yet, existing reviews suggest that the projects yield mixed results. This article adopts a stage-based approach to understand the varied contributions to mHealth research. The heuristic of inputs-mechanism-outputs is proposed as a tool to categorize mHealth studies. This review (63 articles comprising 53 studies) reveals that mHealth studies in developing countries tend to concentrate on specific stages, principally on pilot projects that adopt a deterministic approach to technological inputs (n = 32), namely introduction and implementation. Somewhat less studied were research designs that demonstrate evidence of outputs (n = 15), such as improvements in healthcare processes and public health indicators. The review finds a lack of emphasis on studies that provide theoretical understanding (n = 6) of adoption and appropriation of technological introduction that produces measurable health outcomes. As a result, there is a lack of dominant theory, or measures of outputs relevant to making policy decisions. Future work needs to aim for establishing theoretical and measurement standards, particularly from social scientific perspectives, in collaboration with researchers from the domains of information technology and public health. Priorities should be set for investments and guidance in evaluation disseminated by the scientific community to practitioners and policymakers.
Mobile health (or mHealth) can be broadly defined as the use of mobile devices and technologies to provide healthcare services. The potential of mHealth interventions to address healthcare issues, particularly in developing countries, is widely recognised. Although mHealth has yielded positive outcomes in various contexts, there is a need for designing mHealth interventions that are specifically tailored to the context of individual countries to increase the prospects of adoption. It is in this context that, using the Diffusion of Innovation (DOI) theory, this paper investigates the determinants for the adoption of mobile health by healthcare professionals in Burundi. From a sample of 212 primary healthcare professionals, this paper analyses what can influence Burundi’s primary healthcare workers to adopt mobile health. The results indicate that the relative advantages associated with mHealth interventions are perceived as predictors of mHealth adoption in Burundi. Moreover, work-related factors coupled with one’s experience with mobile devices are the DOI compatibility factors that influence the adoption of mHealth by Burundi’s healthcare professionals. mHealth being a new concept within Burundi’s healthcare system, trialability and observability were found to have a significant influence on its adoption. However, mHealth complexity was found to have no influence on mHealth adoption. These paper advocates for education and awareness programs tailored specifically towards mHealth adoption by primary healthcare workers. It further recommends that the country leverage its East African Community (EAC) membership by forging partnerships with other EAC members in order to be acquainted with and learn from evidence-based outcomes of successful mHealth interventions within the region.
Global clinical engineering journal, 2024
Introduction: Health technology innovation encompasses many areas, such as medical devices, diagnostics, pharmaceuticals, digital health solutions, telemedicine, health informatics, and more. These innovations aim to enhance healthcare delivery, improve patient outcomes, increase access to services, reduce costs, and advance medical research. Methodology: We have analyzed health technology innovations reported between January 2011 and December 2022. Regulatory approval for the innovative products was determined based solely on official open-access websites of health agencies, disregarding information from company websites or third-party sources. The search process utilized identified innovation agencies and sources like Primary Health Care (PHC) Tech Challenge, World Health Organization (WHO) compendium, Global Grand Challenges (GGC), and Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC). Innovations were thoroughly examined from these sources, focusing on health technologies, and success was gauged through regulatory approval. Results: The WHO Compendium includes 200 health innovations primarily intended for low-resource settings, with the USA accounting for the highest number, followed by India, the only low-and middle-income country (LMIC) with significant innovations. However, 58% of the listed innovations did not obtain regulatory clearance. Medical devices dominated the listed innovations, while scalable assistive technologies were limited. Global innovation agencies, particularly Grand Challenges, supported many innovations, but the regulatory approval rate remained low. In India, BIRAC supported 92% of the mapped innovations, with a similar trend of low regulatory approval rates. Conclusion: The study observed the highest number of innovations during 2015-2017, with medical devices being the most prominent category. However, most innovations from both global and domestic agencies were unapproved, raising concerns about regulatory clearance for these health technologies. Manuscript Highlights: The manuscript presents several important highlights concerning health technology innovation and regulatory approval. It highlights the evaluation of health innovations from 2015 to 2022, focusing on their success rate based on health agency approval. It reveals an uneven distribution of innovations from different countries and emphasizes the need for critical interventions to improve the process. This study emphasizes the significance of innovations in achieving healthcare equity and sustainable development goals.
2018
Healthcare systems face numerous challenges that put strain on the system. This is despite the countless resources that are expended on creating innovative healthcare solutions (ranging from innovative healthcare technologies, organisational innovations to pharmaceutical innovations). The literature on innovation and healthcare has shown that the adoption of innovations in practice within the healthcare system is hindered and limited. There is a need to explore and evaluate the role of the innovation system in South Africa insofar as it impacts the adoption of innovations into the national healthcare system. As a starting point, for assessing innovation adoption into health systems, it is necessary to be able to thoroughly describe a health system. In this paper a consolidated health system framework is developed. The purpose of this framework is to be utilised when developing a healthcare innovation adoption framework, i.e. as an input to the healthcare innovation adoption framewor...
Journal of International Economics, 2007
Does medical technology originating in countries close to the technology frontier have a significant impact on health outcomes in countries distant from this frontier? This paper considers a framework where lagging countries may benefit from medical technology (a result of research and development by countries close to the frontier) that is embodied in medical imports or diffuses in the form of ideas. Using a novel dataset from a cross-section of 73 technology-importing countries, we show that medical technology diffusion is an important contributor to improved health status, as measured by life expectancy and mortality rates.
Journal of medical Internet research, 2017
Many promising technological innovations in health and social care are characterized by nonadoption or abandonment by individuals or by failed attempts to scale up locally, spread distantly, or sustain the innovation long term at the organization or system level. Our objective was to produce an evidence-based, theory-informed, and pragmatic framework to help predict and evaluate the success of a technology-supported health or social care program. The study had 2 parallel components: (1) secondary research (hermeneutic systematic review) to identify key domains, and (2) empirical case studies of technology implementation to explore, test, and refine these domains. We studied 6 technology-supported programs-video outpatient consultations, global positioning system tracking for cognitive impairment, pendant alarm services, remote biomarker monitoring for heart failure, care organizing software, and integrated case management via data sharing-using longitudinal ethnography and action re...
BMC Health Services Research
Acceptability is a key concept used to analyze the introduction of a health innovation in a specific setting. However, there seems to be a lack of clarity in this notion, both conceptually and practically. In low and middle-income countries, programs to support the diffusion of new technological tools are multiplying. They face challenges and difficulties that need to be understood with an in-depth analysis of the acceptability of these innovations. We performed a scoping review to explore the theories, methods and conceptual frameworks that have been used to measure and understand the acceptability of technological health innovations in sub-Saharan Africa. The review confirmed the lack of common definitions, conceptualizations and practical tools addressing the acceptability of health innovations. To synthesize and combine evidence, both theoretically and empirically, we then used the "best fit framework synthesis" method. Based on five conceptual and theoretical framewor...
Innovation and Development, 2013
The Open University's repository of research publications and other research outputs New drugs and health technologies for low-income populations: will the private sector meet the needs of low-income populations in developing countries?
Journal of Health Economics, 1992
The paper contains a theoretical and empirical analysis of the driving forces behind the diffusion of dry chemical laboratory equipment in Norwegian primary health care. The empirical analysis is embedded in a theoretical model of a dynamic investment problem focusing on heterogeneity in the potential adopters' profit functions. The empirical analysis indicates that most adopters are foe late in adopting the new technology. A logit analysis of the diffusion process lends some support to the notion that profit function heterogeneity influences the diffusion process. An offspin of the empirical analysis is information on the reimbursement system, indicating that this system does not promote efficient resource allocation in the sector.
Journal of Health Communication, 2004
This special issue is created to mark the 40th anniversary of Everett Rogers' Diffusion of Innovations (DOI) model. Diffusion is the process through which an innovation, defined as an idea perceived as new, spreads via certain communication channels over time among the members of a particular social system. A great deal of research in a variety of academic disciplines (about 5000 published studies so far) has been conducted on the diffusion of innovations over the past six decades. The areas of application for these studies range from hybrid seed corn to modern math, to the snowmobile to antibiotic drugs, to HIV/AIDS prevention . These investigations have led to a general model of the diffusion of innovations, which can be applied to the recent spread of the Internet or to any other new idea. Everett Roger's ground-breaking model has contributed to a greater understanding of behavioral change, including the variation in rates of adoption of innovations, and it has held a broad scope of practical applications in the field of public health.
2005
There is a great unmet need for health technologies to address diseases of the poor in developing countries. At the same time, there is a rapidly growing capabil‐ ity to undertake health innovationa in many develop‐ ing countries (Innovative Developing Countries ‐ IDCs). IDCs have the capacity to develop, manufac‐ ture, ensure safety, and market new health products and to develop, test and introduce new health poli‐ cies or strategies. They are distinguished by their rap‐ idly growing strength in health innovation as illus‐ trated by increasing patenting and publishing activi‐ ties; increasing investments in technology by both the public and private sectors; rapidly growing number of health technology companiesb; and health systems able to analyze, evaluate and adopt new practices and technologies. This innovation capability provides an underlev‐ eraged opportunity to accelerate the development of new products, policies and strategies for diseases of the poor. We call for the format...
Loading Preview
Sorry, preview is currently unavailable. You can download the paper by clicking the button above.