@inproceedings{fdfa56124d954fa8861c1b5891576b0a,
title = "Digital Maturity and Digital Transformation of Municipal Health Care",
abstract = "Background: Primary health care forms the backbone of comprehensive and patient-centered healthcare in Austria and Germany. Particularly in rural areas, there are increasing gaps in local patient care. Objectives: Hybrid health care services should ensure multidisciplinary primary health care at the community level. Methods: A mixed-methods approach consisting of a semi-structured literature review and an online survey of mayors and heads of administration in municipalities in Upper Austria and Upper Bavaria (12/2025, N=757, n=78, rr=10.3\%) was conducted. Results: An average level of digital maturity was identified in municipalities of Upper Austria and Upper Bavaria. Furthermore, the future establishment and expansion of digital health care services was identified as a key lever. Conclusion: In the future, primary health care at the community level will be characterized by hybrid healthcare services. ",
keywords = "community level, digital maturity, digital transformation, hybrid health care services, online survey, Primary health care, Telemedicine/organization \& administration, Primary Health Care/organization \& administration, Humans, Patient-Centered Care/organization \& administration, Austria, Digital Technology, Germany, Digital Health",
author = "Johannes Kriegel and Clemens Rissbacher",
note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2026 The Authors.; 20th Health Informatics Meets Digital Health Conference, dHealth 2026 ; Conference date: 12-05-2026 Through 13-05-2026",
year = "2026",
month = may,
day = "7",
doi = "10.3233/SHTI260062",
language = "English",
volume = "335",
series = "Studies in health technology and informatics",
publisher = "IOS Press BV",
pages = "96--101",
editor = "Gunter Schreier and Martin Baumgartner and Dieter Hayn and Bernhard Pfeifer",
booktitle = "dHealth 2026 - Proceedings of the 20th Health Informatics Meets Digital Health Conference",
address = "Netherlands",
}