Factors Influencing the Adoption of Health Information Standards in Health Care Organizations: A Systematic Review Based on Best Fit Framework Synthesis

Abstract

Journal of Medical Internet Research - International Scientific Journal for Medical Research, Information and Communication on the Internet #Preprint #PeerReviewMe: Warning: This is a unreviewed preprint. Readers are warned that the document has not been peer-reviewed by expert/patient reviewers or an academic editor, may contain misleading claims, and is likely to undergo changes before final publication, if accepted, or may have been rejected/withdrawn. Readers with interest and expertise are encouraged to sign up as peer-reviewer, if the paper is within an open peer-review period. Please cite this preprint only for review purposes or for grant applications and CVs (if you are the author). Background: The deployment of Health Information Technologies (HIT) has often been conducted in silos, at different organizational levels, in different regions and in various healthcare settings; this has resulted in HIT infrastructures often being difficult to integrate or manage. Health information standards are expected to address these issues, yet their adoption remains frustratingly low. Objective: To synthesize a comprehensive framework of factors that affect the adoption and deployment of health information standards by healthcare organizations. Methods: We conducted a systematic review combined with a “Best-fit” framework synthesis approach to develop a comprehensive framework. Results: In total, 35 records were incorporated in our analysis, with the final synthesized framework including four dimensions, namely: Technology, Organization, Environment and Inter-organizational relationships. The technology dimension included: Relative advantage, Complexity, Compatibility, Trialability, Observability, Switching cost, Standards uncertainty and Shared business process attributes. The organization dimension included: Organizational scale, Organizational culture, Staff resistance to change, Staff training, Top management support and Organizational readiness. The environment dimension comprised: External pressure, External support, Network externality, Installed base/drag, and Information communication. The inter-organizational relationships dimension included: Partner trust, Partner dependence, Relationship commitment, and Partner power. Conclusions: The synthesized framework has addressed the gap in knowledge of the adoption of health information standards in healthcare organizations. It provides decision makers with more understanding of the factors that hinder or facilitate the adoption of health information standards to better judge and develop suitable strategies for adoption interventions, and supplies research direction and a basis for future follow-up research.