Maturity assessment and maturity models in healthcare: A multivocal literature review

TL;DR

This multivocal literature review analyzes 68 healthcare maturity models from peer-reviewed and grey sources, highlighting their roles in improving healthcare practices and identifying research gaps and opportunities for future development.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive classification and synthesis of existing healthcare maturity models, including insights from grey literature, which is often overlooked in systematic reviews.

Findings

68 different maturity models identified across healthcare domains

Models help identify issues and guide improvements in healthcare practices

Using maturity models enhances efficiency, effectiveness, and productivity

Abstract

Context: Maturity of practices and infrastructure in healthcare domain directly impacts the quality and efficiency of healthcare services. Therefore, various healthcare administrations (e.g., hospital management to nation-wide health authority) need to assess and improve their operational maturity. Objective: This study aims to review and classify studies that propose/use maturity assessment or maturity models (MMs) as a vehicle to achieve operational excellence in healthcare domain. Method: To achieve this objective, we performed a Multivocal Literature Review (MLR) that is a form of Systematic Review and includes data from the grey literature (e.g., white papers and online documents) in addition to formal, peer-reviewed literature. Results: Based on 101 sources, 80 of which are from the peer-reviewed literature and 21 are from the grey literature, we identified 68 different MMs on, e.g., telemedicine, care pathways, and digital imaging. We reviewed them with respect to various aspects including: types of research and contribution; list of MMs proposed/used with their subject focuses; elements of maturity/capability; and application scope or scale. In the synthesis of empirical benefits of using MMs, two were found significant: (1) Identifying issues and providing guidance for improvement in healthcare contexts; (2) Improving efficiency, effectiveness, performance, and productivity. Conclusion: This MLR provides an overview of the landscape and serves as an index to the vast body of knowledge in this area. Our review creates an opportunity to cope with the challenges in getting an overview of the state-of-the-art and practice, choosing the most suitable models, or developing new models with further specialties.