E-healthcare system design: a consumer preference approach

Abstract

Providing healthcare and related services through the world wide web, or e-healthcare, is an emerging phenomenon. To implement e-healthcare strategy successfully, a careful study of consumers' information needs is crucial. This paper reports our survey research, in which we sought opinions on the importance of various features. Our findings indicate that consumers view features related to consumer self-education via an e-healthcare website as most important, followed by features related to efficiency. Improved communications and timely services, with no statistically significant differences between the two, are both viewed as less important features than efficiency. Self-diagnosis and self-test tools come in last in the preference list. Given the proliferation of online healthcare information in general, the high importance given by participants to features related to self-education, calls for involvement of healthcare providers in certifying, endorsing, or providing quality healthcare information. The low importance assessed to self-diagnosis and self-test tools cautions those who are considering implementing these tools. The survey questionnaire can be accessed via http://opim.sba.uconn.edu/zwalter/ehealth/