Abstract

The possibilities to use telehealth in the treatment of patients have dramatically increased due to digitalization of health care and the availability of suitable end devices. Most telehealth research focuses on patients or on organizations (like hospitals), while the behaviour of physicians is often neglected. In life-style issues and in cases of mild, temporary diseases, patients often consult just the Internet or friends. In case of serious and chronic diseases, this is not possible and physicians continue to play an important role in the treatment process. Specialised physicians diagnose, monitor, and treat such diseases. They can play two roles in such cases. First, they may influence the patient’s decision whether to use telehealth. Second, if the patients adopt the software, the physicians can further analyse the electronically available data with support of other parts of the software. In other words, they can reap further benefits from telehealth. This situation has barely been empirically analysed in information systems or healthcare research. Therefore, we develop a model to better understand the physicians’ motivations to recommend the use of telehealth software to patients given his different roles.

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