Abstract

Maturity of wireless technology and broadband has brought changes in the way end-users use Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). The usage of ICT covers an entire gamut of professional services to entertainment. One domain that is expected to grow as a result of broadband penetration is the health services. There is an expectation from users that healthcare services will become more affordable due to technology growth, and there is increasing evidence to justify this expectation, as telehealth is becoming more prevalent in many countries. Due to these advancements, health services are now offered beyond the boundaries of traditional hospitals, giving raise to many external factors dictating their quality. When we examined various business processes and communication channels that facilitate health services using ICT, we found that there are a number of internal and external factors influencing ICT adoption in the healthcare environment so that services can be provided via ICT tools. We are reporting these factors in this paper. The main lesson learned from this research was that Information Systems discipline needs to urgently consider this domain as a serious growth area as IS research appears to be lacking in this domain. We also found that as IS researchers, we need to mix with health environment in order to understand that environment and then develop suitable methods to answer posited research questions.

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