Disruptive digital innovations in healthcare: Knowing the past and anticipating the future

The twin focus on healthcare and digital transformation during the past two decades, which was intensified by the COVID-19 pandemic to an unanticipated level, has resulted in the mushrooming of literature in the area. While this has enriched the available insights, it has also created a certain amount of confusion, and there is now a need to make sense of what has been achieved before undertaking research that contributes more meaningfully to theory and practice in the area. Motivated by this need, we systematically analyze and evaluate the existing empirical research on the topic of disruptive digital innovations in healthcare. We followed a five-step approach to identify and analyze 42 congruent studies spread across domains, publishers, and geographies to achieve our objective. The outcome of our review is a conceptual framework that could serve to motivate and support future research. First, we presented a bibliographic sketch of the literature to clarify the milieu and descriptives. Next, we performed content analysis to organize the existing evidence into meaningful streams. Towards this end, we followed a structured approach to the review by defining the scope through a matrix-form conceptual framework to guide thematic analysis. Accordingly, we reported on the findings from three perspectives-theoretical, enabler, and barrier-anchoring them in four innovation implementations/outcomes: products, services, pro-cesses, and business models. Our analysis suggests that existing scholarship has drawn upon various interdis-ciplinary theories to map the enablers as well as the barriers that may inhibit the adoption and usage of these disruptive innovations. Based on the findings of our structured approach, we offer useful recommendations to advance research and practice in this field.

Automated summary

The focus on healthcare and digital transformation in the past two decades, intensified by the COVID-19 pandemic, has led to a large volume of literature. This has created both enrichment and confusion, calling for a need to make sense of the achievements and contribute more meaningfully to theory and practice. In response to this need, the existing empirical research on disruptive digital innovations in healthcare was systematically analyzed and evaluated. The outcome of the review is a conceptual framework that can guide future research and provide recommendations for advancing the field.