A Stakeholder Analysis for Telemedicine in China

Telemedicine is considered as one of the technological approaches that could alleviate the healthcare disparity in China and improve the accessibility, affordability and quality of health services. However, the success and diffusion rates of telemedicine keep at a very low level in China. While related technologies have been intensively studied and significantly improved, much fewer researches are directed to the social and organizational issues on telemedicine in the country. We employ the stakeholder theory to examine the key groups that have significant impacts on the implementation and operations of telemedicine so that management strategies can be developed to release the power of telemedicine as a new approach to healthcare delivery.