Tele-Medicine: Building Knowledge-Based Tele-Health Capability in New Zealand

Abstract

This chapter reviews the strategic planning of health information systems in New Zealand. This step is deemed necessary to identify the main accelerators and/or impediments that influence technology adoption and diffusion in health organisations in New Zealand. This research introduces the tele-medicine technology as one possible solution to provide continuous, quality, and immediate medical care to rural patients and to encourage networking among the different hospitals in New Zealand. This research suggests that in order to realise tele-medicine benefits in health care delivery in New Zealand, certain issues need to be addressed such as implementing comprehensive cost-benefit analysis and identifying the benefits sought from adopting the telemedicine technology. The New Zealand context is unique and this perspective with respect to tele-medicine adoption and success is addressed in this research.