scholarly journals Making Healthcare Systems More Efficient and Sustainable in Emerging and Developing Economies Through Disruptive Innovation: The Case of Nigeria

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Ivo Pezzuto
Keyword(s):  
Developing Economies ◽  
Healthcare Services ◽  
Healthcare Systems ◽  
Disruptive Innovation ◽  
Healthcare Sector ◽  
Shared Value ◽  
Healthcare Industry ◽  
Creating Shared Value ◽  
The World ◽  
Disruptive Innovations

This paper focuses on the potential opportunities that disruptive innovation may bring to the healthcare sector of emerging and developing economies, and in particular to the one of the leading Sub-Saharan Africa’s country, Nigeria. The author examines the possibility of using advancements in the innovation of Technology 4.0 to bridge the gap in access to what could be defined as “good enough” healthcare services for poorer regions of the world while also aiming to potentially reduce healthcare costs and making the local healthcare systems more sustainable, productive, and accessible. Nigerian health industry is used as an exploratory case study to examine the feasibility of implementing Mobile Health and Telehealth Systems, and more in general, to assess the potential benefits of disruptive innovations in the healthcare industry for the lower income patients of emerging and developing economies. This analysis on disruptive innovation, industry competitiveness, and sustainability of the healthcare models is inspired by Michael Porter’s Creating Shared Value (CSV) strategic framework (Porter et al., 2011; 2018) and by Clayton Christensen’s Disruptive Innovation Theory (Christensen et al., 1997; 2000; 2004; 2006; 2013; 2015, 2017). This study also aims to provide a compelling argument supporting the thesis that disruptive innovations in the healthcare system can help grant access to critical basic healthcare services in poor regions of the world while also achieving multiple goals such as, sustainability, efficiency, shared-value creation, and corporate profitability for forward-looking firms with scalable and disruptive business models. Ultimately, the paper aims to contribute to the body of knowledge in the field of disruptive innovation, sustainability, and creating shared-value strategies, assessing the feasibility of solutions that may drive to improved competitiveness, social progress, social inclusion, and sustainability of the healthcare industry in one of the developing economies. The results of this study aim to prove that, in the coming years, disruptive innovations are likely to redefine the competitive environment of the healthcare industry and improve the healthcare conditions of the poorer, underserved, and underreached population of developing and emerging economies like Nigeria, thus increasing their life expectancy rates.

scholarly journals Are disruptive innovations recognised in the healthcare literature? A systematic review

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 208-216
Author(s):  
Viknesh Sounderajah ◽  
Vanash Patel ◽  
Lavanya Varatharajan ◽  
Leanne Harling ◽  
Pasha Normahani ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Review ◽  
Health Informatics ◽  
Health Management ◽  
Digital Health ◽  
Health Sector ◽  
Disruptive Innovation ◽  
Healthcare Sector ◽  
Healthcare Industry ◽  
Geographical Regions ◽  
Disruptive Innovations

The study aims to conduct a systematic review to characterise the spread and use of the concept of ‘disruptive innovation’ within the healthcare sector. We aim to categorise references to the concept over time, across geographical regions and across prespecified healthcare domains. From this, we further aim to critique and challenge the sector-specific use of the concept. PubMed, Medline, Embase, Global Health, PsycINFO, Maternity and Infant Care, and Health Management Information Consortium were searched from inception to August 2019 for references pertaining to disruptive innovations within the healthcare industry. The heterogeneity of the articles precluded a meta-analysis, and neither quality scoring of articles nor risk of bias analyses were required. 245 articles that detailed perceived disruptive innovations within the health sector were identified. The disruptive innovations were categorised into seven domains: basic science (19.2%), device (12.2%), diagnostics (4.9%), digital health (21.6%), education (5.3%), processes (17.6%) and technique (19.2%). The term has been used with increasing frequency annually and is predominantly cited in North American (78.4%) and European (15.2%) articles. The five most cited disruptive innovations in healthcare are ‘omics’ technologies, mobile health applications, telemedicine, health informatics and retail clinics. The concept ‘disruptive innovation’ has diffused into the healthcare industry. However, its use remains inconsistent and the recognition of disruption is obscured by other types of innovation. The current definition does not accommodate for prospective scouting of disruptive innovations, a likely hindrance to policy makers. Redefining disruptive innovation within the healthcare sector is therefore crucial for prospectively identifying cost-effective innovations.

Policy Review: Dubai Health Authority’s COVID-19 Rapid Response

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (Special) ◽  
Keyword(s):  
United Arab Emirates ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Healthcare Services ◽  
Rapid Response ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
World Health ◽  
Healthcare Sector ◽  
Services Delivery ◽  
First Case ◽  
The World

Dubai Health Authority (DHA) is the entity regulating the healthcare sector in the Emirate of Dubai, ensuring high quality and safe healthcare services delivery to the population. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic on the 11th of March 2020, indicating to the world that further infection spread is very likely, and alerting countries that they should be ready for possible widespread community transmission. The first case of COVID-19 in the United Arab Emirates was confirmed on 29th of January 2020; since then, the number of cases has continued to grow exponentially. As of 8th of July 2020 (end of the day), 53,045 cases of coronavirus have been confirmed with a death toll of 327 cases. The UAE has conducted over 3,720,000 COVID-19 tests among UAE citizens and residents over the past four months, in line with the government’s plans to strengthen virus screening to contain the spread of COVID-19. There were vital UAE policies, laws, regulations, and decrees that have been announced for immediate implementation to limit the spread of COVID- 19, to prevent panic and to ensure the overall food, nutrition, and well-being are provided. The UAE is amongst the World’s Top 10 for COVID-19 Treatment Efficiency and in the World’s Top 20 for the implementation of COVID-19 Safety measures. The UAE’s mission is to work towards resuming life after COVID-19 and enter into the recovery phases. This policy research paper will discuss the Dubai Health Authority’s rapid response initiatives towards combating the control and spread of COVID-19 and future policy implications and recommendations. The underlying factors and policy options will be discussed in terms of governance, finance, and delivery.

Mobile Technology Support for the Assessment and Management of COVID-19 Outbreak

2021 ◽  
pp. 13-24
Author(s):  
Chinazunwa Uwaoma ◽  
Clement C. Aladi
Keyword(s):  
Infectious Disease ◽  
Disease Management ◽  
Mobile Technology ◽  
Healthcare Services ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Healthcare Systems ◽  
Technology Support ◽  
The World ◽  
Obvious Reason ◽  
Entire World

The early months in 2020 saw a rapid increase in the adoption of mHealth and telehealth across the globe. The obvious reason being the sudden outbreak of coronavirus infectious disease (COVID-19), which sent the entire world scrambling for solutions to contain and mitigate the spread. Ordinarily, telehealth and mHealth are considered optional in most traditional healthcare systems even in developed countries, but today, these technologies have become the most sought-after tools required to augment the overwhelmed healthcare systems orchestrated by COVID-19. Mobile technology in particular has continued to play important roles in the monitoring, surveillance, and the assessment of the outbreak in so many ways. This chapter offers a window into different ways mHealth and telemedicine are used to provide healthcare services and disease management, as well as the challenges in the implementation of these technologies as the world braces for the devastating effects of COVID-19.

scholarly journals Technology, Productivity, and Costs in Healthcare

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Albert A. Okunade ◽  
Ahmad Reshad Osmani
Keyword(s):  
Information And Communication Technologies ◽  
Healthcare Cost ◽  
Medical Devices ◽  
Technological Progress ◽  
Healthcare Systems ◽  
The Body ◽  
Healthcare Sector ◽  
Lower Productivity ◽  
The World ◽  
The Government

Healthcare cost encompasses expenditures on the totality of scarce resources (implicit and explicit) given up (or allocated) to produce healthcare goods (e.g., drugs and medical devices) and services (e.g., hospital care and physician office services are major components). Healthcare cost accounting components (sources and uses of funds) tend to differ but can be similar enough across most of the world countries. The healthcare cost concept usually differs for consumers, politicians and health policy decision-makers, health insurers, employers, and the government. All else given, inefficient healthcare production implies higher economic cost and lower productivity of the resources deployed in the process. Healthcare productivity varies across health systems of the world countries, the production technologies used, regulatory instruments, and institutional settings. Healthcare production often involves some specific (e.g., drugs and medical devices, information and communication technologies) or general technology for diagnosing, treating, or curing diseases in order to improve or restore human health conditions. In the last half century, the different healthcare systems of the world countries have undergone fundamental transformations in the structural designs, institutional regulations, and socio-economic and demographic dimensions. The nations have allocated a rising share of total economic resources or incomes (i.e., Gross National Product, or GDP) to the healthcare sector and are consequently enjoying substantial increases in population health status and life expectancies. There are complex and interacting linkages among escalating healthcare costs, longer life expectancies, technological progress (or “the march of science”), and sectoral productivities in the health services sectors of the advanced economies. Healthcare policy debates often concentrate on cost-containment strategies and search for improved efficient resource allocation and equitable distribution of the sector’s outputs. Consequently, this contribution is a broad review of the body of literature on technological progress, productivity, and cost: three important dimensions of the evolving modern healthcare systems. It provides a logical integration of three strands of work linking healthcare cost to technology and research evidence on sectoral productivity measurements. Finally, some important aspects of the existing study limitations are noted to motivate new research directions for future investigations to explore in the growing health sector economies.

The Role of Culture in Developing Disruptive Innovation in Domestic Firms

2013 ◽  
pp. 258-271 ◽  
Author(s):  
Birton J. Cowden ◽  
Morris Kalliny
Keyword(s):  
Business Models ◽  
Disruptive Innovation ◽  
Cultural Dimensions ◽  
Bottom Of The Pyramid ◽  
National Cultures ◽  
Domestic Firms ◽  
The World ◽  
Disruptive Innovations

National culture influences how people perceive the world, and subsequently, what actions they take. Research has shown that this also follows in the actions taken by firms that reside in those national cultures. The actions identified in this paper look at domestic firms’ pursuit of disruptive innovation. Disruptive innovations are unique types of innovation that require different thinking from the firm. We discuss the two ways a firm can pursue disruption and how culture might affect that pursuit. Specifically, Hofstede’s (1980) five cultural dimensions of uncertainty avoidance, power distance, long-term orientation, individualism, and masculinity will provide a guiding light on the values needed for a firm to develop disruptive innovations. Additionally, it will be further argued of the coexistence of disruptive business models and the opportunities of the bottom of the pyramid markets.

scholarly journals Health-BlockEdge: Blockchain-Edge Framework for Reliable Low-Latency Digital Healthcare Applications

Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (7) ◽  
pp. 2502
Author(s):  
Muneeb Ejaz ◽  
Tanesh Kumar ◽  
Ivana Kovacevic ◽  
Mika Ylianttila ◽  
Erkki Harjula
Keyword(s):  
Low Cost ◽  
Effective Means ◽  
Rapid Evolution ◽  
Dynamic Network ◽  
Healthcare Services ◽  
Healthcare Systems ◽  
Healthcare Sector ◽  
Elderly Persons ◽  
Healthcare Applications ◽  
Blockchain Technology

The rapid evolution of technology allows the healthcare sector to adopt intelligent, context-aware, secure, and ubiquitous healthcare services. Together with the global trend of an aging population, it has become highly important to propose value-creating, yet cost-efficient digital solutions for healthcare systems. These solutions should provide effective means of healthcare services in both the hospital and home care scenarios. In this paper, we focused on the latter case, where the goal was to provide easy-to-use, reliable, and secure remote monitoring and aid for elderly persons at their home. We proposed a framework to integrate the capabilities of edge computing and blockchain technology to address some of the key requirements of smart remote healthcare systems, such as long operating times, low cost, resilience to network problems, security, and trust in highly dynamic network conditions. In order to assess the feasibility of our approach, we evaluated the performance of our framework in terms of latency, power consumption, network utilization, and computational load, compared to a scenario where no blockchain was used.

scholarly journals COVID-19's Economic Impact on the Global Health Systems: Time to Respond to New Realities

2021 ◽  
pp. 85-91
Author(s):  
Ziyad S. Almalki
Keyword(s):  
Global Health ◽  
Economic Impact ◽  
Health Systems ◽  
Economic Effect ◽  
Healthcare Systems ◽  
Healthcare Sector ◽  
Income Loss ◽  
Global Recession ◽  
Resource Limited ◽  
The World

Around six months have passed since the emergence of an ongoing coronavirus-related health pandemic. In resource-limited countries, healthcare systems with fewer options for intervention are likely to face more economic difficulties. The goal of this review is to summarize and explore the cost and economic effect of COVID-19 on global health systems. The study starts with a crisis synopsis and costs of COVID-19 treatment, then discusses how health has been affected and approaches to alleviating the burden while at the same time limiting an inevitable income loss. Even if it is difficult to project COVID-19 spending because there are many uncertainties about the disease and its future course, various reports have quantified the amounts spent on direct COVID-19 treatment in different countries. The healthcare sector around the world has faced catastrophic financial challenges and experienced the largest global recession in history. Most governments in the world cannot avoid the devastating economic impact of COVID-19 on the healthcare sector, but they can try to avert the worst effects. With the spread of the coronavirus, the healthcare systems are facing a financial crisis as a result of actions that countries have adopted to mitigate the spread of the virus. Therefore, it is crucial to act swiftly and in meaningful ways to minimize the fallout from this shock.

Equipment Maintenance in Primary and Secondary Healthcare, Punjab

2020 ◽  
pp. 097282011988639
Author(s):  
Muhammad Naiman Jalil ◽  
Rania Sohail ◽  
Areeb Javaid ◽  
Ali Jan Khan
Keyword(s):  
Public Sector ◽  
Medical Equipment ◽  
Healthcare Services ◽  
Healthcare Systems ◽  
Health Care Facilities ◽  
Healthcare Sector ◽  
Medical Services ◽  
Equipment Maintenance ◽  
Biomedical Equipment ◽  
The Impact

Healthcare systems and, more specifically, public sector healthcare systems are complex hierarchical entities. Delivering quality healthcare services is a challenging task facing several key hurdles. Equipment maintenance and availability is one of the key issues since the non-functionality of medical equipment degrades service provision in public sector hospitals. In this case, we discuss the situation of primary and secondary healthcare services in Punjab, Pakistan, focusing on the current condition of equipment functionality and maintenance across thirty-six districts of Punjab. The healthcare sector in Punjab is organized in a tiered manner, with primary health care facilities providing basic medical services to the masses and secondary healthcare facilities providing referral and specialized services to the patients. Providing medical services requires an efficient network of medical professionals, adequate medical equipment, physical infrastructure and sufficient supply of medicines at all levels of the healthcare system. This case identifies and discusses the issue of non-functionality and maintenance of medical equipment in Punjab. Demand for medical equipment is generated on a central and district level, followed by a combination of central- and facility-level procurement. Maintenance of equipment is done by the facility without any standard operating procedures. The purpose of this case is to observe the current maintenance options in practice and to assess the impact of a decentralized maintenance system on the functionality status of biomedical equipment across districts. The objective is also to highlight the need for an efficient maintenance regime in accordance with the nature of the equipment to ensure cost and downtime minimization.

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