Table_1_Evaluation of Chinese healthcare organizations' innovative performance in the digital health era.XLSX

BackgroundHealthcare workers' relationship with industry is not merely an agent mediating between consumer and vendor, but they are also inventors of the interventions they exist to deliver. Driven by the background of the digital health era, scientific research and technological (Sci-tech) innovation in the medical field are becoming more and more closely integrated. However, scholars shed little light on Sci-tech relevance to evaluate the innovation performance of healthcare organizations, a distinctive feature of healthcare organizations' innovation in the digital health era.
MethodsAcademic publications and patents are the manifestations of scientific research outputs and technological innovation outcomes, respectively. The study extracted data from publications and patents of 159 hospitals in China to evaluate their innovation performance. A total of 18 indicators were constructed, four of which were based on text similarity match and represented the Sci-tech relevance. We then applied factor analyses, analytical hierarchy process, and logistic regression to construct an evaluation model. We also examined the relationship between hospitals' innovation performance and their geographical locations. Finally, we implemented a mediation analysis to show the influence of digital health on hospital innovation performance.
ResultsA total of 16 indicators were involved, four of which represented the Sci-tech including the number of articles matched per patent (NAMP), the number of patents matched per article (NPMA), the proportion of highly matched patents (HMP), and the proportion of highly matched articles (HMA). Indicators of HMP (r = 0.52, P = 2.40 × 10−12), NAMP (r = 0.52, P = 2.54 × 10−12), and NPMA (r = 0.51, P = 5.53 × 10−12) showed a strong positive correlation with hospital innovation performance score. The evaluation model in this study was different from other Chinese existing hospital ranking systems. The regional innovation performance index (RIP) of healthcare organizations is highly correlated with per capita disposable income (r = 0.58) and regional GDP (r = 0.60). There was a positive correlation between digital health innovation performance scores and overall hospital innovation performance scores (r = 0.20). In addition, the hospitals' digital health innovation performance affected the hospital's overall innovation score with the mediation of Sci-tech relevance indicators (NPMA and HMA). The hospitals' digital health innovation performance score showed a significant correlation with the number of healthcare workers (r = 0.44).
ConclusionThis study constructed an assessment model with four invented indicators focusing on Sci-tech relevance to provide a novel tool for researchers to evaluate the innovation performance of healthcare organizations in the digital health era. The regions with high RIP were concentrated on the eastern coastal areas with a higher level of economic development. Therefore, the promotion of scientific and technological innovation policies could be carried out in advance in areas with better economic development. The innovations in the digital health field by healthcare workers enhance the Sci-tech relevance in hospitals and boost their innovation performance. The development of digital health in hospitals depends on the input of medical personnel.

研究背景
医护人员与产业的关系并非仅作为连接消费者与供应商的中介主体，同时亦是其致力提供的各类干预措施的发明者。在数字健康时代的背景驱动下，医学领域的科研与科技（Sci-tech）创新正日益紧密融合。然而，现有学者鲜有针对科技关联度展开研究，以评估医疗组织的创新绩效——这亦是数字健康时代下医疗组织创新的显著特征。

研究方法
学术论文与专利分别是科研产出与科技创新成果的具象化表现形式。本研究从中国159家医院的论文与专利数据中提取信息，以评估其创新绩效。研究共构建18项指标，其中4项基于文本相似度匹配，用于表征科技关联度。随后，本研究运用因子分析、层次分析法及逻辑回归构建评价模型。此外，本研究还探讨了医院创新绩效与其地理位置之间的关联。最终，通过中介效应分析，揭示了数字健康对医院创新绩效的影响机制。

研究结果
本研究共纳入16项指标，其中4项用于表征科技关联度，分别为每篇专利匹配的论文数（NAMP, Number of articles matched per patent）、每篇论文匹配的专利数（NPMA, Number of patents matched per article）、高匹配专利占比（HMP, Highly matched patents）以及高匹配论文占比（HMA, Highly matched articles）。分析显示，高匹配专利占比（r = 0.52, P = 2.40 × 10⁻¹²）、每篇专利匹配的论文数（r = 0.52, P = 2.54 × 10⁻¹²）及每篇论文匹配的专利数（r = 0.51, P = 5.53 × 10⁻¹²）与医院创新绩效得分呈显著强正相关。本研究构建的评价模型与国内现有其他医院排名体系存在差异。医疗组织的区域创新绩效指数（RIP, Regional Innovation Performance Index）与人均可支配收入（r = 0.58）及区域GDP（r = 0.60）呈高度相关。数字健康创新绩效得分与医院整体创新绩效得分呈正相关（r = 0.20）。此外，医院的数字健康创新绩效以科技关联度指标（每篇论文匹配的专利数与高匹配论文占比）为中介，对医院整体创新得分产生影响。医院的数字健康创新绩效得分与医护人员数量呈显著相关（r = 0.44）。

研究结论
本研究构建了一套以科技关联度为核心的评价模型，包含4项自主研发的指标，为研究者评估数字健康时代下医疗组织的创新绩效提供了全新工具。区域创新绩效指数较高的地区集中于经济发展水平更高的东部沿海地区。因此，可在经济基础较好的地区先行推行科技创新政策。医护人员在数字健康领域的创新，能够提升医院内部的科技关联度，进而推动医院创新绩效的提升。医院数字健康的发展依赖于医疗人员的投入。