An Analysis of the Adoption of Digital Health Records Under Switching Costs

Zafer Ozdemir (), John Barron () and Subhajyoti Bandyopadhyay ()
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Zafer Ozdemir: Decision Sciences/MIS, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio 45056
Subhajyoti Bandyopadhyay: Information Systems and Operations Management, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611

Information Systems Research, 2011, vol. 22, issue 3, 491-503

Abstract: We investigate the incentive issues that surround the adoption and sharing of electronic health records (EHR) and the potential role of a personal health record (PHR) platform in facilitating data sharing. Through our analysis, we find evidence that health-care providers may not have an incentive to share patients' records electronically even though EHR systems will increase consumer surplus, especially in the presence of provider heterogeneity and myopic consumers. In this context, we find that an independent PHR platform can create incentives for the providers to share their patients' records electronically with other providers by selectively subsidizing them. In a pluralistic health-care system like that in the United States, where health-care providers have varying incentives to implement electronic health records, an online PHR platform can provide a proxy for a “national health information network,”' wherein consumers can freely exchange their health records among competing providers.

Keywords: electronic health records; personal health records; switching costs; national health information network; technology adoption (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2011
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (13)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:inm:orisre:v:22:y:2011:i:3:p:491-503

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