Comprehensive assessment of barriers, control tools, and the potential for optimizing digital transformation trends in the healthcare sector

Relevance. The need to optimize the use of innovative business processes based on digital technologies in the healthcare sector will increase the efficiency of resource use and overcome socio-organizational barriers in the context of staff shortages and high administrative costs in Russian healthcare.
Purpose. The objectives of the study are a comprehensive analysis of socio-organizational barriers, a quantitative assessment of administrative costs and the identification of reserves for optimizing business processes through digital transformation in medical organizations in the Russian Federation.
Objectives. The study needs to: assess the time and financial costs of routine administrative operations in the healthcare sector; identify the structure of barriers to digitalization; analyze the control tools used and the availability of regulations in the healthcare sector; determine the priorities of digitalization and economic expectations from its implementation in the healthcare sector.
Methodology. The comprehensive methodology includes the following methods: a structured online survey of 390 medical professionals (Yandex.Forms, 2025), descriptive statistics, cross-tabulations, and correlation analysis.
Results. The article identifies daily time losses, the dominance of archaic control tools, the critical unavailability of current regulations, the priority of electronic document management and the amount of funding as the main barrier.
Conclusions. The reserves for increasing the efficiency of innovative business processes based on digital technologies in the healthcare sector through the digitalization of routine processes have been identified. Success depends on an integrated approach, overcoming system barriers, competent change management, as well as investments in IT infrastructure and the development of staff competencies in the healthcare sector.

1. Hospodkova P., Berezna J., Bartak M., et al. Change Management and Digital Innovations in Hospitals of Five European Countries. Healthcare. 2021;9(11):1508. https://doi.org/10.3390/healthcare9111508.

2. Bucci N., Vainieri M., Nuti S. Change and Innovation in Healthcare: Findings from Literature. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2021;18(9):4367. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18094367.

3. Lluch M. Healthcare Professionals' Organisational Barriers to Health Information Technologies. International Journal of Medical Informatics. 2011;(12):849-862. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2011.09.005.

4. Kruse C.S., Mileski M., Dray G., et al. Barriers and facilitators to utilizing digital health technologies by healthcare professionals. NPJ Digital Medicine. 2023;6(161). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41746-023-00899-4.

5. Shaderkin I.A., Shaderkina V.A. Tsifrovoe zdravookhranenie: prognoz na 2025-2030 gg. Rossiiskii zhurnal telemeditsiny i elektronnogo zdravookhraneniya = Russian Journal of Telemedicine and e-Health. 2025;11(3):7-18. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/ 10.29188/2712-9217-2025-11-3-7-18.

6. Woolhandler S., Himmelstein D.U. Administrative Work Consumes One-Sixth of U.S. Physicians’ Working Hours and Lowers Their Career Satisfaction. International Journal of Health Services. 2014;44(4):635-642. https://doi.org/10.2190/HS.44.4.a.

7. Hobbs F.D.R., Bankhead C., Mukhtar T., Stevens S., Perera-Salazar R., Holt T., Salisbury C. Clinical workload in UK primary care: a retrospective analysis of 100 million consultations in England, 2007-14. The Lancet. 2016;(10035):2323-2330. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(16)00620-6.

8. Tai-Seale M., Olson C.W., Li J., et al. Interaction Time with Electronic Health Records: A Systematic Review. Applied Clinical Informatics. 2021;12(4):788-797. https://doi.org/10.1055/s-0041-1733909.

9. Aksenova E.I., Medvedeva E.I., Kroshilin S.V. The use of digital technologies in the activities of medical organizations. Zdravookhranenie Rossiiskoi Federatsii = Healthcare of the Russian Federation. 2024;68(5):356-363. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.47470/0044-197X-2024-68-5-356-363.

10. Hughes M. Do 70 Per Cent of All Organizational Change Initiatives Really Fail? Journal of Change Management. 2011;(4):451-464. https://doi.org/10.1080/14697017.2011.630506.

11. Hastings B.J. Guidance for successful healthcare transformation: A systematic review of change management practices and outcomes. Australian Journal of Management & Organization. 2025. P. 1-21. https://doi.org/10.1177/03128962241307347.

12. Alharbi M.F. Does Electronic Health Record Implementation Enhance Hospital Efficiency and Patient Outcomes? A Comprehensive Systematic Review. Sage Open. 2025;15(3). https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440251359791.

13. Mkrtychyan G. A., Isaeva O. M. The reasons for staff resistance to organizational change: the View of managers as Agents of change. Organizatsionnaya psikhologiya = Organizational Psychology. 2015;5(1):22-33. (In Russ.)

14. Yasaeva Z.A. Problems of financing healthcare in the Russian Federation. Ekonomika i biznes: teoriya i praktika = Economics and Business: Theory and Practice. 2019;(12-3):163-166. (In Russ.)

15. Veldanova M., Glazkova P., Zhuravleva M., et al. Barriers and Facilitators of Digital Transformation in Health Care: Mixed Methods Study. Journal of Participatory Medicine. 2026;(18):E83551. https://doi.org/10.2196/83551.

16. Gurtskoi L.D., Smirnova E.K., Zudin A.B. Digital competencies of medical workers: approaches to the definition and essence of the concept. Byulleten' Natsional'nogo nauchno-issledovatel'skogo instituta obshchestvennogo zdorov'ya imeni N. A. Semashko = Bulletin of the National Research Institute of Public Health named after N. A. Semashko. 2023;(2):83-88. (In Russ.)

17. Subbotina T.N., Grishkina A.A. Digitalization of healthcare services: problems and development prospects (the experience of Moscow and the Moscow Region). Ekonomika i biznes: teoriya i praktika = Economics and Business: Theory and Practice. 2025;(12):395-400. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.24412/2411-0450-2025-12-395-400.

18. Galstyan A.G., Martirosyan V.A. Some issues of digital transformation of healthcare in the regions of Russia. Vek kachestva = The Age of Quality. 2024;(2):73-95. (In Russ.)

19. Arndt B.G., Beasley J.W., Watkinson M.D., Temte J.L., Tuan W.J., Sinsky C.A., Gilchrist V.J. Tethered to the EHR: Primary Care Physician Workload Assessment Using EHR Event Log Data and Time-Motion Observations. Annals of Family Medicine. 2017;(5):419-426. https://doi.org/10.1370/afm.2121.

20. Aanestad M., Grisot M., Hanseth O., Vassilakopoulou P. Information Infrastructures and the Challenge of the Installed Base. Information Infrastructures within European Health Care. Cham: Springer; 2017. P. 25-33. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51020-0_3.