Health care: specialized industry or novel environment for IS theory-testing

Abstract

As a result of its information intensive nature, health-care provides a special setting for information systems research. Much of what has been learned about developing, diffusing, implementing, or supporting information technologies in other sectors of the economy could be applied to studies in the health care area. Conversely, new and general insights about IS could arise from research in the health care setting. However, the response to health care's special status has been a separation of this research from the mainstream of IS research -and a close association with the technical areas of computer science through medical informatics. Those researchers addressing IS in health care often do not make explicit links to pervasive IS theories and concepts discussed in the mainstream literature.