Building a critical mass of users for digital healthcare promotion programs

Abstract

Despite recent technological advancements, the slow adoption pattern of digital healthcare promotion programs continues to be a major problem plaguing many healthcare organizations today. The historical teaching case study is indispensable in improving our understanding of the complex and multifaceted nature of contemporary digital healthcare promotion programs. This historical teaching case presents information about e-health, the e-commerce unit of a large multinational healthcare insurance company. The teaching case shows how despite e-health’s ability to persuade a large registered base of users to trial its healthcare promotion programs, over 90% of these registrants discontinued use after a short trial period of using the technology. This historical teaching case focuses on the social challenges involved in persuading users to adopt and continue using e-health’s major healthcare promotion innovation: an online nutrition center. Despite extensive promotions and the use of incentives, less than 10% of the user base adopted and continued to use this healthcare promotion innovation. The case reports on the discontinuance among digital healthcare promotion users despite the intensive efforts to retain them. Students and practitioners will gain insight into the key social challenges involved in achieving a critical mass of users for digital healthcare promotion innovations. The teaching case requires important decisions to be made by students and practitioners about present digital healthcare promotion programs by drawing on inferences from past digital healthcare promotion programs. Finally, this historical teaching case study makes a convincing case for the value of historical insights in informing present day challenges facing contemporary digital healthcare promotion programs.