Antecedents of Value-Based Healthcare Adoption among Healthcare Professionals in the UAE

Abstract

Background

As the UAE advances towards its Vision 2030 goals for healthcare excellence and sustainability, understanding the factors that influence the adoption of value-based healthcare among healthcare professionals is crucial. Value-Based Health Care aims to shift the focus from volume-driven to outcome-oriented care. Value-based care models are demonstrating the benefits for multiple health care organizations across the geographies. Yet its adoption among health care professionals remains understudied in the UAE region.

Objectives

This quantitative study examines the antecedents of value-based healthcare adoption among healthcare professionals in the United Arab Emirates through a structural equation modelling approach.

Methods

Integrating the Technology, Organization, Environmental (TOE) framework and Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), we tested a model consisting of four constructs: Awareness of VBHC (AW), Perceived Benefits (PB), Implementation Challenges (IC), and Willingness to Adopt (WA). The data was collected from 32 healthcare professionals across UAE healthcare institutions using a validated 16-item questionnaire on a 5-point Likert scale.

Results

The findings reveal that perceived benefits showed a stronger positive effect on willingness to adopt (β = 0.7207, p < 0.001, f² = 1.1413). Implementation challenges also positively influenced the adoption willingness (β = 0.3031, p = 0.0017, f² = 0.2762). Surprisingly, awareness of value-based VBHC showed little or no significant relationship with adoption willingness (β = -0.0372, p = 0.7808). The model explained 77.33% of the variance in willingness to adopt.

Conclusion

These findings challenge the conventional and theoretical assumptions related to awareness-driven adoption and suggest that professionals' recognition of both benefits and challenges can drive VBHC adoption intentions. The positive effect of implementation challenges demonstrates that professionals who understand the systemic barriers may exhibit greater readiness to change and higher enthusiasm to solve the adoption barriers. Implications of leadership training, digital infrastructure investment and UAE healthcare policy are discussed.