Skip to content
SNS Research Brief | 9/6/2019

SNS Research Brief 57. Digital innovation platforms in healthcare: What we can learn from the Swedish Rheumatology Registry

9/6/2019

Currently, there is large focus on digitalization within the Swedish healthcare sector. This raise the question of what we can learn from earlier digital healthcare initiatives. The report summarizes research about the self-organized development and implementation of the Swedish Rheumatology Quality Registry (SRQ).

The SRQ is an example of a digital platform that has survived for more than two decades. Therefore, it constitutes a unique opportunity to learn from an early digital innovation process. In the report, the dissipative structures model is applied to the development of the register. The SRQ is treated as an example of a digital innovation platform and not a single system. A platform provides a common interface, functionality and data that the users can share in order to advance the development of different services. Therefore, the SRQ shows how digital platforms can serve as a common resource and promote a living health system.

Author: Anna Essén, Assistant Professor at Stockholm School of Economics, House of Innovation.

More from Health Care in the 21st Century

  • SNS Research Brief Health Care

    SNS Research Brief 76. Hospital bed capacity and ED crowding – The impact on patient safety

    Sweden has the lowest number of hospital beds per capita in Europe. In a new SNS report, researcher Björn af Ugglas shows that a shortage of hospital beds and crowded emergency departments can be associated with increased mortality. To reverse this trend, it needs to be clarified who is responsible for this lack of capacity in Swedish hospitals.
  • Research report Health Care

    Constant changes – on organization, leadership and work environment in elderly care

    A prerequisite for addressing the problems facing the Swedish elderly care sector concerns improving the work environment. There needs to be a clearer link between top management and the employees at the facilities, in addition to fewer employees per manager. This is argued by researchers Kristina Westerberg and Maria Nordin in a new SNS report.
  • Research report Health Care

    The future governance of Swedish healthcare

    The state must take greater responsibility for the necessary transformation of the healthcare sector in terms of increased person-centeredness, increased digitalisation and a strengthened primary care sector. This is argued in a new SNS report by Anders Anell, Professor at the Lund University School of Economics and Management. Among other things, he proposes increased state funding and a nationally regulated choice of healthcare provider based on two levels: one primarily consisting of digital clinics and one consisting of physical clinics targeting the elderly and others.
  • Research report Health Care

    E-health as apps – data protection and data sharing

    The number of digital health services has exploded over the last decade, while Swedish legislation has a hard time keeping up. Existing and future regulations need to be adapted to IT systems and solutions, according to law Professor Cecilia Magnusson Sjöberg in this SNS report. At the same time, however, we need to avoid overly technology-specific solutions, which tend to become obsolete quite rapidly. Instead, Magnusson Sjöberg recommends building test environments where a legal perspective plays a proactive role in creating legitimate IT solutions.

Other sns research brief on Health Care

Subscribe to our Newsletter

Stay updated with our latest insights, seminars and research news.