Healthcare Organizations and the Internet's Virtual Space: Changes in Action

Abstract

For some years now, the opportunity of innovating business models has basically been linked to continual progress in ICT. Healthcare is no exception; information and communication technologies are generally considered the most effective driver for changing organizations, improving quality, optimizing resources, and so forth, at least in theory. In practice, it is not clear which and how many of these opportunities are really exploited by organizations operating in healthcare. This chapter presents the results of a research project aimed at understanding to what degree and how Italian healthcare organizations make use of the virtual space made available to them by the Internet.