The recent pandemic has exposed structural weaknesses and criticalities of the Italian national healthcare system (SSN), as inefficiencies and serious burden to face emergency situations that require high degree of flexibility in services provision. Contextually, remarkable steps forward have been made in the digital health sector, in particular multisided platforms, that are products or services where multiple groups of customers are get together through a platform that internalizes indirect network externalities, are becoming increasingly widespread. The aim of this research is to investigate a relevant example of multisided platform in the Italian healthcare sector, namely telemedicine. Telemedicine solutions are indeed a highly relevant and timely phenomenon that can be studied through the lens of multisided platforms. Consequently, the present study explores the business models of organizations providing telemedicine solutions in Italy, to understand potential benefits, limitations, and future developments in terms of profitability and scalability. Through an empirical analysis based on the collection of information on companies’ websites, official documentation, and direct interviews with nine telemedicine organizations, it emerged that telemedicine could actually make an impactful contribution to cope with the fragilities that affect the national healthcare system. Nevertheless, a significant limitation that impedes these companies to leverage on a business model like the one of other multisided platforms has to be found in the issue of health-related data management, that are known to be particularly sensitive. Indeed, the usage of data could unlock new revenue streams, enhancing the profitability of the business model and raising network externalities on the platform, always respecting General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) rules. Finally, the telemedicine business model proved to be sustainable and scalable in the next future; however, in order to make it fully succeed also in the long term, an improved data management regulatory is required, government aid is needed, and digital divide issues must be overcome.
La recente pandemia ha puntato i riflettori su alcune debolezze strutturali e criticità del Servizio Sanitario Nazionale (SSN), come inefficienze e altri ostacoli nel fronteggiare situazioni di emergenza che richiedono alti gradi di flessibilità nell’erogazione di servizi. Contestualmente, importanti passi avanti sono stati fatti nel settore digitale sanitario, in particolare piattaforme a più parti, che sono prodotti o servizi dove gruppi multipli di clienti sono raggruppati attraverso una piattaforma che internalizza esternalità di network indirette, stanno diventando sempre più diffuse. Lo scopo di questa ricerca è di indagare un esempio rilevante di piattaforme a più parti nel settore sanitario italiano. Le soluzioni di telemedicina sono infatti un fenomeno molto importante e recente che può essere studiato attraverso le lenti di queste piattaforme. Di conseguenza, questa ricerca esplora il business model delle organizzazioni che erogano telemedicina in Italia per capirne potenziali benefits, limiti, e futuri sviluppi in termini di scalabilità e profittabilità attraverso un’ analisi empirica basata sulla raccolta di informazioni dai web site delle aziende, documentazione ufficiale, ed interviste dirette con nove realtà di telemedicina, è emerso che la telemedicina potrebbe portare un significativo impatto per fronteggiare le fragilità che interessano il sistema sanitario nazionale. Ciò nonostante, un limite significativo che impedisce a queste aziende di fare leva su un business model come altre piattaforme a più parti risiede nella gestione di dati sanitari, conosciuti per essere particolarmente sensibili. Infatti, l’uso dei dati potrebbe sbloccare nuovi flussi di cassa, incrementando la profittabilità del business model e aumentando le esternalità della piattaforma. Infine, il business model della telemedicina ha dimostrato di essere sostenibile e scalabile nel prossimo futuro; comunque, per avere successo nel lungo termine, è richiesta una migliore regolamentazione sulla gestione dati, sono necessari aiuti governativi e devono essere risolti problemi di digital divide.
The rise of multi-sided platforms in healthcare : insights from telemedicine companies
MARTINELLI, STEFANO;BASTIANELLI, LUCA
2021/2022
Abstract
The recent pandemic has exposed structural weaknesses and criticalities of the Italian national healthcare system (SSN), as inefficiencies and serious burden to face emergency situations that require high degree of flexibility in services provision. Contextually, remarkable steps forward have been made in the digital health sector, in particular multisided platforms, that are products or services where multiple groups of customers are get together through a platform that internalizes indirect network externalities, are becoming increasingly widespread. The aim of this research is to investigate a relevant example of multisided platform in the Italian healthcare sector, namely telemedicine. Telemedicine solutions are indeed a highly relevant and timely phenomenon that can be studied through the lens of multisided platforms. Consequently, the present study explores the business models of organizations providing telemedicine solutions in Italy, to understand potential benefits, limitations, and future developments in terms of profitability and scalability. Through an empirical analysis based on the collection of information on companies’ websites, official documentation, and direct interviews with nine telemedicine organizations, it emerged that telemedicine could actually make an impactful contribution to cope with the fragilities that affect the national healthcare system. Nevertheless, a significant limitation that impedes these companies to leverage on a business model like the one of other multisided platforms has to be found in the issue of health-related data management, that are known to be particularly sensitive. Indeed, the usage of data could unlock new revenue streams, enhancing the profitability of the business model and raising network externalities on the platform, always respecting General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) rules. Finally, the telemedicine business model proved to be sustainable and scalable in the next future; however, in order to make it fully succeed also in the long term, an improved data management regulatory is required, government aid is needed, and digital divide issues must be overcome.| File | Dimensione | Formato | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
2022_07_Martinelli_Bastianelli.pdf
accessibile in internet per tutti
Descrizione: testo della tesi
Dimensione
2.46 MB
Formato
Adobe PDF
|
2.46 MB | Adobe PDF | Visualizza/Apri |
I documenti in POLITesi sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
https://hdl.handle.net/10589/189653