Key aspects influencing the scaling of digital remote care: A case from a Norwegian hospital region

Abstract

Digital remote care (DRC) is one means to contribute to digital trans- formation (DT) in the healthcare sector; a sector where DT has a long way to go before reaching its potential to be a significant contributor to the fulfilment of the need for more efficient, effective and up-to-date services. In this longitudi- nal case study, we investigate a Norwegian hospital region’s efforts to carry out ambitious transformations with DRC; in particular, we follow the DRC trajecto- ries at one of the region’s hospitals. We aim to explore DRC and how it can scale through expansion, both in functionality and within the organisation to ac- commodate large-scale health information infrastructures. Our contribution to the information systems literature lies in providing a rich description of the challenges that emerge in relation to DRC initiatives and how such issues are addressed. We also contribute to the DRC practices by identifying four key as- pects related to scaling and by deriving six lessons learned for planning and im- plementing DRC initiatives.