The Influence of National Factors on Transferring and Adopting Telemedicine Technology: Perspectives of Chief Information Officers

Telemedicine has drawn increasing attention as a beneficial healthcare delivery medium, especially in developing countries that struggle with physician and health professional shortages, through providing health services in remote areas. This paper presents the findings of a survey conducted to investigate the national factors influencing the adoption of telemedicine technology in Iran, as a less developed country. Designing a self-administered questionnaire the data were collected from the Chief Information Officers (CIOs) of Iranian healthcare system. The findings indicate that political factors such as Information and Communication Technology (ICT) policies, national data security policies, national e-health policies, national ICT infrastructures and rational decision-making, along with organizational factors such as organizational readiness and implementation effectiveness, are positively associated with telemedicine capability in Iran. However, no evidence was found to support the direct impact of cultural factors on transferring telemedicine technology in the country.