Healthcare provider and organizational readiness of mobile-based app implementation for disease classification in northwest Ethiopia: a cross-sectional study

Clinical care, high-quality health data, and efficient policymaking all depend on accurate disease classification. Ethiopia launched a disease classification mobile app for the Ethiopian Short Version of ICD-11 (ESV-ICD-11) to improve coding practices. However, little is known about health facilities and providers’ readiness towards the implementation of mobile app. This study sought to determine the readiness of healthcare providers and organizations to implement the mobile app and identify associated factors in northwest Ethiopia. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 19 healthcare facilities and 388 providers from October 1–30, 2023. A structured questionnaire was used to gather data. Binary logistic regression was used, and a p-value < 0.05 was used to determine associated with readiness. Out of 19 healthcare facilities, 9 of them showed organizational readiness, and overall, 49.7% of healthcare providers were ready to use the app. Healthcare providers working in hospitals (AOR: 2.32, 95% CI: 1.46–3.69), Health information technician professions (AOR: 6.22, 95% CI: 1.28–30.27), favorable attitude (AOR: 1.95, 95% CI: 1.05–3.65), digitally literate (AOR: 2.88, 95% CI: 1.41–5.90), mentorship access (AOR: 1.94, 95% CI: 1.11–3.42), and previous challenges in reporting main diagnosis (AOR: 2.55, 95% CI: 1.24–5.23) were significant factors to healthcare providers readiness. There is insufficient readiness for the implementation of mobile-based disease classification app. Scaling the deployment of the ESV-ICD-11 mobile app requires improving infrastructure, mentorship, and digital literacy.