Tracking Future Path of Consumers' Empowerment in E-Health

Abstract

Developments in ICT have created a new generation of networking technology that affects all areas, including healthcare. The use of ICT in healthcare organizations, for example in health information systems (HIS), has developed the same way as the wider landscape, and includes the use of Internet-based technology. The adoption of social network features as the ‘front end' of electronic health (e-health) systems is believed to boost sharing between consumers, leading to greater satisfaction. E-health is likely to become more consumer-centric, accommodating consumers' participation in the healthcare process, including decision-making. The government of Taiwan has successfully implemented a National Health Insurance (NHI) system as the foundation for e-health. Improvements in technology may drive changing consumer behavior concerning healthcare services. This paper addresses some important concepts, milestones, challenges, and future direction of consumer empowerment in Taiwan, and proposes that empowerment will be personal, social, and medical.

Redefining Electronic Health Records (EHR) and Electronic Medical Records (EMR) to Promote Patient Empowerment

“…Deploying EMR systems are definitely enhance the quality and quantity of healthcare services to the public such as promoting effectiveness of retrieving patient records, efficiency in serving patient, clarity in managing medical records, reducing medical errors, simplifying report to view long continuum of patients' medical histories. From the perspective of healthcare staffs, EMRs systems will significantly reduce doctors' and nurses' workload especially in dealing with a large amount of patients medical records, removing data redundancies [20], [21]. Categorizations of EMRs are "(1) Combining computer systems in various departments, functions, and/or systems within a hospital including outpatient/inpatient, emergency physician, nursing information system, ICU system, examination/checkups information system, and pharmacy information system.…”