Currently submitted to: JMIR Medical Informatics
Date Submitted: Sep 25, 2025
Open Peer Review Period: Oct 23, 2025 - Dec 18, 2025
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Public Reporting Systems in Healthcare and the Missing In-formation Systems Lens: A Scoping Review
ABSTRACT
Background:
In this manuscript, public reporting systems in healthcare are defined as digital platforms that public comparative healthcare performance data available to the public (e.g., Hospital Compare in the United States, NHS choices in the United Kingdom, or national quality registries in Europe) and MyHospital in Australia. These systems aim to improve transparency, accountability, and patient choice. While these systems have been widely studied from policy and clinical perspectives, the information systems foundations, including system architecture, interoperability, data governance and usability, that enable their operation remain underexplored.
Objective:
To map the extent and nature of published literature addressing the technological foundations of public reporting system in healthcare, and to identify persisting gaps in IS scholarship.
Methods:
Following the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) guidelines and reported according to PRISMA-ScR. Six databases were searched: PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, IEEE, ACM, and Cochrane for articles published between 2000—2025. The eligible articles included peer-reviewed journal articles and conference papers on public reporting systems in healthcare. Data were charted on study characteristics, geographic distribution, healthcare system type, and methodological approach. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize findings, and a narrative synthesis identified thematic trends and research gaps.
Results:
We identified 3,064 records, screened 1,674 after de-duplication, and included 359 stud-ies. Most of the included studies originated from North America (65.7%), followed by Eu-rope (21.1%). Among the 359 included articles analyzed, 67% employed quantitative methods. In contrast, a smaller percentage employed qualitative methods (24%) and mixed methods (9%). Research from an information systems perspective was scarce: few studies examined system architecture, interoperability, interface design, data governance, or usability.
Conclusions:
Despite the centrality of information systems infrastructure to public reporting, current scholarship predominantly frames these systems as policy or social tools, neglecting their technical underpinnings. This oversight has practical implications, such as poor system usability, weak interoperability of noncompliance with data regulations. Issues that can undermine patient trust and system effectiveness. Addressing this gap requires interdisciplinary approaches that integrate information systems frameworks, sociotechnical analysis, and usability evaluation to ensure that public reporting systems are effective, equitable, and technically robust.
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