Priorities when designing a service-focused delivery model for mobility devices: a systematic review

Area of Science:

• Rehabilitation Engineering
• Health Services Research
• Business Model Innovation

Background:

• Conventional mobility device distribution relies on product-based models, leading to reactive servicing.
• Service-based business models offer continuous, customized user support and improved data for stakeholders.
• Optimizing economic and social value requires a shift towards service-oriented approaches.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review existing literature on service-based business models for assistive technology.
• To identify key considerations for designing effective service-based models.
• To apply these findings to the specific context of mobility device provision.

Main Methods:

• Systematic literature search across PubMed, Web of Science, and OVID databases.
• Analysis of studies discussing service delivery models for assistive products.
• Inductive thematic analysis to identify themes, facilitators, and barriers.

Main Results:

• Identified four key themes: Access (affordability, availability, education), Utility (customizability, usability, adaptability), Integrity (quality, sustainability, impact), and Compliance (policy, privacy, security).
• Customizability, affordability, availability, and education emerged as the most frequent themes.
• A significant gap exists in the literature regarding service-based models for mobility devices utilizing modern digital technologies.

Conclusions:

• Service-based delivery models are essential to replace traditional product-based models for mobility devices.
• Designing optimal service-based models requires careful consideration of identified themes.
• Leveraging insights from other fields can inform the development of novel, digitally-enabled service-based models for mobility devices.