A Study of Healthcare E-Commerce in Taiwan

• Main Authors: Shen-Hao Lin, 林昇豪
• Other Authors: Song-Kong Huang
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2001
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/67642944243863746159

碩士 === 國立陽明大學 === 醫務管理研究所 === 89 === The purpose of this study is to comprehend the application of healthcare e-commerce in Taiwan. Questionnaires were sent to 527 hospitals, including medical centers, regional, and district hospitals. Finally, 102 questionnaires (19.35%) were selected. The questionnaire was developed based on references and expert interviews. The major findings of this study are shown as follow: 1. Application of electronic commerce in hospitals nowadays The ratio of adoption of healthcare e-commerce in hospitals is 24.5% in average. Medical centers have the highest ratio of adoption, with the rate of 66.67%. The major applying scope is the establishment of hospitals’ homepages and insurance declarations. Meanwhile, only 7% of hospitals have adopted the “B2B.” 93.1% of hospitals would like to cooperate with professional companies of e-commerce in the development. Now, most hospitals haven’t spent much money on developing electronic commerce. 48% of hospitals spend less than one million NT dollars to establish e-commerce systems. In the respect of proposers, 44% are proposed by presidents or vice presidents of hospitals. The evaluations for e-commerce of the majority are only “common” or “normal.” 76% of the participants think that the software provided by electronic commerce companies can’t match the original information systems of hospitals. Moreover, the application of e-commerce is significantly different among levels, ownership, and locations of hospitals. The reason might be the pressure from competition among hospitals. 2. Influential factors of the development of healthcare e-commerce Most hospitals agree that external factors will influence their inclination to adopt e-commerce systems. Among the factors, “government policies,” “industrial environment,” and “competition among hospitals” are especially significant. Besides, internal factors such as need, support, and ability of the hospital are also important. Moreover, the recognition of e-commerce and how it improves the efficiency, image, and service of the hospital also affect its decision. Hospitals having adopted electronic commerce systems pay more attention to the “pressure from competition among hospitals” than those haven’t. 3. The inclination of adopting healthcare e-commerce systems Most hospitals would like to adopt electronic commerce systems (with an average grade of 3.42). The inclination of introducing e-commerce system among medical centers, regional, and district hospitals is not different significantly. However, hospitals of different ownership would significantly influence in their inclination. Locations of hospitals also influence the inclination. For future development, most hospitals want to cooperate with electronic commerce companies. “establishment of hospitals’ homepages” and “medication purchase” are the major functions that hospitals want to use. 4. Attitudes toward electronic commerce： According to the statistic analysis, levels of hospitals influence greatly in the recognition of the function of e-commerce such as “improvement of working efficiency” and “raise competitiveness.” Besides, ownership of hospital will influence their recognition of government policies, industrial environment, pressure from competition, the ability of hospital, and the improvement of working efficiency. Most hospitals are concerned about the security of online transaction and transference of information.