De-implementation as a Missing Link in Digital Health Innovation Dynamics: The Example of Remote Patient Monitoring Services
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.23726/cij.2026.1762Keywords:
Digital Health Innovation, Evolutionary Economics, De-implementationAbstract
Research and practice in digital health innovation have largely focused on the processes underlying the development, implementation, and scaling of new digital services. Meanwhile, comparatively little attention has been paid to the processes underlying the removal - or de-implementation - of ineffective, inefficient, or obsolete digital tools. Drawing on evolutionary perspectives of innovation dynamics, this conceptual paper argues that a lack of clear responsibilities in de-implementation decision-making may undermine the contemporary digital health innovation arena by impeding the development, implementation, and scaling of superior solutions. On this basis, initial ideas are offered for innovation policy directions that could better support the systematic integration of de-implementation processes into digital health innovation ecosystems.
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