Digital Transformation and Hospital Operational Efficiency: Global Evidence and Emerging Lessons from Vietnam

Digital transformation is increasingly viewed as a strategic approach to enhancing hospital operational efficiency amid rising healthcare demand and resource constraints. Moving beyond technology-centric perspectives, this paper conceptualizes digital transformation as an organization-wide change encompassing digital infrastructure, workflow redesign, data capabilities, and governance. Adopting a conceptual research design, the study synthesizes global academic literature and policy evidence published between 2015 and 2025 to examine how digital transformation contributes to hospital operational efficiency. Based on this synthesis, the paper proposes a conceptual research model that links hospital digital transformation to operational efficiency through organizational and managerial mechanisms, including data-driven decision-making, process transparency, and operational agility, while accounting for contextual and institutional factors. Drawing on emerging lessons from Vietnam, the study highlights how differences in policy frameworks, infrastructure readiness, and human resource capacity shape the outcomes of digital transformation initiatives. The paper contributes an integrated conceptual perspective that frames digital transformation as a governance- and performance-oriented strategy and provides policy-relevant insights and directions for future empirical research in emerging health systems.