Title: The role of internet-based healthcare services in the healthcare process: the example of a Hungarian health portal

Authors: Attila Bán; Viktor Pál; György Vida; Gábor Dudás

Addresses: Centre for Economic and Regional Studies, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Hungary ' Department of Economic and Social Geography, University of Szeged, Hungary ' Department of Economic and Social Geography, University of Szeged, Hungary ' Centre for Economic and Regional Studies, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Hungary

Abstract: E-health plays an increasingly important role in healthcare since it can improve the access to health information. In this article, we are seeking to answer the following questions with respect to online health services: To what extent can they reduce the workload of healthcare professionals in the healthcare system? What kind of health benefits can e-health produce for patients? In our study, we conducted a content analysis based on 'the doctor answers' columns of a Hungarian online health portal. We examined the direct and indirect references to two indicators (seeing the doctor, therapeutic advice) in the responses in relation to ten disease groups. Our results suggest that online health portals can moderately reduce the workload of healthcare professionals and at the same time they can produce considerable health gain for patients.

Keywords: e-health; cross-tabulation analysis; content analysis; health portal; WEBBeteg website.

DOI: 10.1504/IJHTM.2018.098383

International Journal of Healthcare Technology and Management, 2018 Vol.17 No.2/3, pp.168 - 185

Accepted: 28 Sep 2018
Published online: 18 Mar 2019 *

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