Faced by a confluence of onerous challenges including escalating healthcare costs, ageing populations and the advance of technology as well as the need to provide effective and efficient healthcare services, OECD countries today are turning to e-health as the silver bullet or panacea. However, despite the initial euphoria and notwithstanding the significant investments made, to date, many of these e-health solutions have yet to prove their success. This paper presents the findings from an exploratory study that examined e-health initiatives in five countries Australia, China, Germany, UK and US to understand why these e-health solutions have not as yet delivered the promised results. A key aspect from this study was the need to have a robust and rich theory so it is possible to more fully understand all the implications, barriers and facilitators of the respective e-health solutions. Hence, the paper proffers Actor Network Theory (ANT) as such a candidate theory and illustrates how it can help to identify and support an in depth understanding of key success factors.
Over the last forty years, the average percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) spent on healthcare by members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries has risen considerably. Challenges including longer life expectancy, ageing population and technological changes have and continue to exponentially impact rising health expenditures. Reducing these expenditures as well as offering effective and efficient quality healthcare treatment has become a priority globally to healthcare. Technology and automation in general have the potential to reduce these costs; hence many countries are now looking at how to use information and communication technologies (ICT) in general and e-health solutions in particular to address these challenges. Hence, this paper focuses on such attempts by two countries. Specifically, it focuses on the German and Australian e-health solutions. The paper provides an assessment of these two solutions, the possibility for any lessons learnt with regard to designing and implementing successful and appropriate e-health solutions as well as understanding the major barriers and facilitators that must be addressed. Finally, ANT will be used to provide a rich lens to investigate the key issues in these respective e-health solutions.
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