Conceptual design of an e-health strategy for the Spanish health care system.

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to describe the design and development of an e-health strategy for the Spanish health care system. Using quality function deployment and benchmarking analysis as an analytical model, a strategy in e-health care is proposed.

Design/methodology/approach: This article uses the case of a Spanish community to build a general framework for e-health system development. Based on a multi-disciplinary literature, and the specific needs of a community, the process of e-health system development is analyzed and reduced into a series of phases that form an integrated method. Best practice managerial techniques are adapted to the healthcare industry and the inter-relationships between them are mapped in a theoretical model that results in the desired outcomes.

Findings: This analysis produces a road-map to e-health system development consisting of several phases: analysis of the current situation of the system and determination of objectives; collection and analysis of customer expectations; development of an action plan through cross-evaluation of customer and system needs; cost and strategic analyses; and evaluation and control systems. Managerial implications are provided.

Originality/value: The strategy proposed in this article is a prototype and an ongoing study in the Castilla-La Mancha community.