Telemedicine for development in healthcare organizations: A myth or a fantasy

The Health Information Systems (HIS) literature has pointed to the laggardness of the health sector in embracing strategic (integrated) IS in general or in integrating IS in key clinical areas. Of course, the extent of this laggardness varies from one provider/country to another. The HIS literature pointed to different clinical (e.g., one-on-one practices), organizational (e.g., cost/benefit, politics, culture), individual (e.g., technology aversion), technological (e.g., hardware, software, legacy systems, telecommunications), and environmental (e.g., diminishing funds from the government) impediments. This tutorial attempts to investigate the effectiveness of telemedicine, as one of the strategic solutions in healthcare delivery. The tutorial portrays the current status of telemedicine in different countries in the world and provides an overview of recent telemedicine research in two large healthcare providers in the areas of psychiatry and dermatology in New Zealand. After identifying some of the major barriers, this research is interested to propose a plan for the strategic adoption of telemedicine in healthcare organizations. This is important and may introduce different opportunities and efficiencies in operations to healthcare providers.