Title: Finding opportunities to induce growth of medication history usage: evidence from Estonian population level panel data

Authors: Märten Veskmäe

Addresses: Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia

Abstract: E-services in the health sector have promised to improve treatment quality and administrative capabilities. Yet, studies have shown a paradoxical situation, in which implementing new e-services exacerbates existing social cleavages. The aim of this study is to examine, how medication history e-service has diffused among different age and gender groups, over time and between first-time and returning users. Estonian population level panel data was used for the purposes of this study, which covered the time span from the launch of the service in 2010 until the end of 2015, including information for approximately 180,000 unique users. Results of this study show that while digital divide for older populations was evident on first-time usage level, older users who did use the service were significantly more likely to become repeat users. This indicates that digital divide is conditional, depending on first-time access to e-services.

Keywords: diffusion; e-prescribing; health information technology; medication history; return visitors.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEH.2020.113177

International Journal of Electronic Healthcare, 2020 Vol.11 No.2, pp.123 - 135

Accepted: 25 Jun 2020
Published online: 23 Feb 2021 *

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