Title: The strategic planning of health information systems in New Zealand: a telemedicine perspective

Authors: Nabeel A.Y. Al-Qirim

Addresses: School of Computer and Information Sciences, Faculty of Business, Auckland University of Technology, Private Bag 92006, Auckland 1020, New Zealand

Abstract: This research reviews the strategic planning of health information systems in New Zealand. This step is deemed necessary in order to identify key accelerators and impediments that could influence technology adoption and success in healthcare organisations in New Zealand. Such a review could be the foundation of a strategic framework to introduce new innovations in healthcare, such as telemedicine. This research introduces the telemedicine technology as one possible solution to provide integrated, continuous, quality, and immediate medical care to rural patients and to encourage networking amongst the different hospitals in New Zealand. This research provides different details pertaining to this emerging technological innovation in the 1990s. The research suggests that certain issues need to be addressed first before telemedicine benefits could be realised in healthcare delivery in New Zealand. Implementing comprehensive cost–benefit analysis and identifying the benefits sought from adopting telemedicine are some of the suggested solutions in this research. The New Zealand context is unique and this perspective with respect to telemedicine adoption and success is addressed in this research.

Keywords: networks; New Zealand; rural patients; strategic planning; telemedicine; video conferencing; healthcare information; medical care.

DOI: 10.1504/IJHTM.2004.004957

International Journal of Healthcare Technology and Management, 2004 Vol.6 No.2, pp.189 - 209

Published online: 26 Jul 2004 *

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