Development and Validation of a Questionnaire to Measure Digital Maturity of General Practitioner Practices:...

Area of Science:

• Health Informatics
• Digital Transformation in Healthcare
• Maturity Models

Background:

• Digital transformation necessitates valid instruments for assessing healthcare digitalization levels.
• Maturity models are common for evaluating institutional digital maturity.
• A standardized, empirically grounded tool for outpatient general practices is currently lacking.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify and validate key dimensions of digital maturity for general practices.
• To develop a questionnaire for measuring digital maturity in outpatient general practices.
• To support research on maturity models and provide a practical tool for GPs and policymakers.

Main Methods:

• A web-based, cross-sectional survey was conducted among 201 general practitioners (GPs) in Germany.
• Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were used to identify and validate 6 dimensions of digital maturity.
• Convergent and discriminant validity were evaluated, and model fit was assessed using established indices.

Main Results:

• A 16-item questionnaire was developed, validated, and demonstrated excellent model fit.
• The 6 validated dimensions include: effects of digitalization, staff participation, practice management system maturity, staff competencies, IT security, and digitally supported processes.
• Overall digital maturity averaged 3.77/5, with IT security highest (4.45) and effects of digitalization lowest (3.1).

Conclusions:

• This study presents the first empirically validated dimensions of digital maturity for outpatient GP practices.
• The developed questionnaire serves as a foundation for future research and practical application in healthcare digitalization.
• The tool enables GPs to assess digitalization, identify improvement areas, and supports policymakers in planning and monitoring.