Combination of four areas of stakeholder relations

An article in International Journal of Health Technology and Management has highlighted the potential benefits of a new approach to collaboration on eHealth initiatives. The approach, proposed by Maria Qvarfordt, Stefan Lagrosen and Lina Nilsson of Linnaeus University in Kalmar, Sweden, links the four strands of stakeholder relationships – academia, business, public sector and citizens – into what the team calls a Quadruple Helix (QH).

Digitalisation in healthcare involves the adoption of digital technologies across different sectors and is crucial for the advancement of healthcare worldwide. eHealth specifically refers to the use of electronic tools and methods to improve healthcare delivery and outcomes.

For eHealth to be effective, collaboration between different stakeholders is crucial. Previous studies have shown that multi-stakeholder engagement can be understood and developed using a traditional triple helix model (academia, government and industry).

By including a fourth strand – the public – which we might more formally call civil society, the importance of the end-user perspective can be incorporated into eHealth solutions. Each stakeholder group brings unique knowledge, resources and perspectives and can thus improve outcomes as a whole, with the whole in some cases being greater than the sum of its parts.

To develop the QH approach, the researchers used a grounded theory methodology and collected and analyzed stakeholders’ perspectives on eHealth collaboration. They then mapped their findings from the study to an Actor-Resource-Activity (ARA) model – a framework for understanding business relationships. The team emphasizes the importance of promoting value and quality in eHealth development collaboration. They highlight the role of knowledge and competence.

Overall, the QH approach is more inclusive and participatory and will hopefully lead to more effective and widely accepted eHealth implementations. The document thus provides an invaluable framework for understanding and improving stakeholder collaboration in the digitalization of healthcare.