Same Goals, Yet Different Outcomes: Analysing the Current State of eHealth Adoption and Policies in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland Using a Mixed Methods Approach

Laura Naumann, Moritz Esdar, Elske Ammenwerth, Dieter Baumberger, Ursula Hübner
2019 Studies in Health Technology and Informatics  
Despite similar policy goals, the adoption of eHealth practices took different paths in Austria (AT), Switzerland (CH), and Germany (GER). We seek to provide a rigorous analysis of the current state of hospitals by focusing on three key eHealth areas: electronic patient records (EPR), health information exchange (HIE), electronic patient communication. For validation and in order to gain better contextual insight we applied a mixed method approach by combining survey results from clinical
more » ... ors with qualitative interview data from eHealth experts of all three countries. Across countries, EPR adoption rates were reported highest (AT: 52%, CH: 78%, GER: 50%), HIE-rates were partly lower (AT: 52%, CH: 14%, GER: 17%), and electronic patient communication was reported lowest overall (AT: 17%, CH: 8%, GER: 19%). Amongst others, results indicate patient awareness about eHealth to be equally weak across countries, which thus may be an important focal point of future policy initiatives.
doi:10.3233/shti190377 pmid:31438077 fatcat:7udr7uf2ebgatp6lz3p7rcbxua