CHAPTER 6: CONCLUSION…
6.2 Limitations and Implications for Future Research
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CHAPTER SIX- CONCLUSION
6-1 Summary
Nowadays, e-Health service is becoming a very important issue in aging societies, especially since many governments are aiming to provide cost- efficient and high quality services to people in need. This research discusses the fit between patient preferences and service features. We propose two dimensions of patient segmentation:
(1) degree of disease urgency, (2) degree of disease variety, and five service features: (1) device complexity, (2) value focus, (3) demand wave, (4) process complexity, and (5) customization.
To test our framework, we proposed research hypotheses regarding four different cases undertaken by the e-Health program at the National Taiwan University Hospital (NTUH). Our research methodology incorporated a thorough focus group interview and a case study at the hospital, conducted from February of 2010 to December of 2010 to gain general research insights. After collecting and analyzing our data, we found that our results closely matched our pervious hypotheses. Therefore, in order to achieve maximum performance, e-Health service systems should consider both the service features and patient preference simultaneously.
6-2 Limitations and Implications for Future Research
After going through the cross-case study research and testing the framework, our research showed that good service features that correspond to the patients‟
segmentation positively influences service performance. Thus, the analysis result coincides with our original hypotheses. Additionally, we found out that each patient segment has a different degree of preference priority in regards to service features. One limitation in this research was that we were not able to do an empirical study because we couldn‟t acquire any data from the patients‟ point of view, as a result of the privacy policies at the hospital. In the future, this will still be a challenge to overcome.
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Appendix A: Question List for the Focus Group Interview
SECTION 1: Case Background
1. How many case managers and doctors are involved in the service division?
2. How many patients are involved in service division?
3. What service options does this division provide to patients?
4. Can you simply describe the whole service process provided to patient?
5. How do you select targeted case to this program?
SECTION 2: Service Design
1. How many times of caring phone call do you provide to targeted patients?
2. What kinds of devices are involved to facilitate the service performance in this division and do you think more devices need to be involved?
3. What the key value does this categorized service provide to patients?
4. Do patients have any different customized need?
5. What is the characteristic of selected patient?
SECTION 3: The Current e-Health System
1. In your opinion, what is the biggest concern and challenge in this system?
2. How does this division charge to patients?
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Appendix B: Interview Contents and Framework Application
(Chinese)
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