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The Internet, Global Healthcare Management Systems, and Sustainable Development: Future Scenarios
Author(s) -
Séror Ann
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
the electronic journal of information systems in developing countries
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.41
H-Index - 18
ISSN - 1681-4835
DOI - 10.1002/j.1681-4835.2001.tb00030.x
Subject(s) - the internet , health care , business , sustainable development , corporate governance , telecommunications , knowledge management , computer science , economics , economic growth , political science , finance , world wide web , law
Telecommunications technologies and the Internet offer a revolution in management of global healthcare systems and sustainable development. This paper explores emergent telecommunications infrastructures and their consequences for the future of healthcare management using a scenario methodology. A world systems view from evolutionary economics provides a unique perspective on sustainable development. System performance on the dimensions of universal access, equitable resource allocation and consumer participation are evaluated in light of ideological, political and cultural considerations of governance. Alternative scenarios vary according to market dynamics led by healthcare institutions (push) or by consumer demand (pull), and according to system control mechanisms that may be technologically embedded, institutional or behavioural. The scenario analysis suggests that telecommunications technologies and the Internet may contribute significantly to improve global healthcare system performance, to manage ideological diversity and to reduce the wide inequities that separate the industrialized nations from the developing world.