JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

The field of eHealth has a history of more than twenty years. During that time many different eHealth services were developed. Factors influencing the adoption of such services were, however, seldomly the main focus of analyses. For this reason, organizations adopting and implementing eHealth services seem not to be fully aware of barriers and facilitators influencing the integration of eHealth services into routine care.

Objective:

The objective of this work is twofold (a) to provide a comprehensive list of relevant barriers to be considered, and (b) a list of facilitators or success factors to help in planning and implementing successful eHealth services.

Methods:

For this study a twofold approach was applied. On the one hand, we gathered experts’ current opinions on facilitators and barriers in implementing eHealth services via expert discussions at two health informatics conferences held in Europe. On the other hand, we conducted a systematic literature analysis concerning the barriers and facilitators for the implementation of eHealth services. Finally, we merged the results of the expert discussions with the ones of the systematic literature analysis.

Results:

Both expert discussions identified 15 barriers and 31 facilitators, whereas 76 barriers and 268 facilitators were found in 38 articles published from twelve different countries. The combination of both sources resulted in 77 barriers and 292 facilitators for the adoption and implementation of eHealth services.

Conclusions:

This work contributes a comprehensive list of barriers and facilitators for the implementation and adoption of eHealth services. Addressing barriers early and leveraging facilitators during the implementation can help creating eHealth services that better meet the needs of its users and provide higher benefits for patients and caregivers. Clinical Trial: No trial has been performed.