Document Type : Original Article(s)
Authors
Abstract
In fact, health strategists and policymakers contribute to the effectiveness and efficiency of planning, providing and evaluating health care, and the use of various capabilities of ITC. The evidence for this claim includes: e-government, e-development, e-commerce, e-assurance and the same issues which are pursued in high levels of govemment’s legislative and executive bodies. E-health is considered a large-scale managerial strategy. The main issues in the first section of this paper include: limitations faced by managers in using finacial, physical and human resources, the necessity of a systematic approach used by managers and focus on the efficiency of processes as well as optimal use of available resources,, the importance of Information Systems and their operation mechanisms in organization. In second section, these issues will be discussed: concepts and operational definitions of public health and e-health, potential applications of ICT in healthcare (including hospital services, out patient cares, palliative care and home care) and related challenges, as well as ethics of e-health system. In section three, the qualitative and quantitative benefits of ICT in health (including more accuracy, the accessibility and timeliness of information, less chance of medical errors, more efficiency as a result of less costs in human resources, physical equipment and other resources, better performance in insurance services will be human resources, physical equipment and other resources, better performance in insurance services will be studied and a successful mechanism of e-health efficiency (cost analysis) will be presented in final section, an analysis of current status of e-health in some developed and developing countries, progress trend in e-health application will be presented. Also, some recommendations, offered by WHO and some universities and organizations working in e-health domain will be presented. Key words: HICT: Health Information and Cammunication Technology, e-health: Electronic Health.
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