Willingness to use eHealth services in Lithuanian healthcare institutions. Countrywide survey.

BACKGROUND

Lithuania started to implement its own National eHealth Service System (NESS) in 2005. In May 2007, an eHealth system development strategy for the period 2007-2015 was prepared. In general, it is expected that these processes will lead to a higher level of citizens' awareness and involvement in protecting their health, as well as more effective use of available resources for provision and expansion of healthcare services, based on modern IT technologies. However, the implementation of the system is very slow and difficult. We aimed to assess competence and willingness of healthcare institutions (HCIs) to implement the NESS in primary care healthcare institutions in Lithuania.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study design was used. Questionnaires with letters of invitation to participate in the study were sent to 150 Lithuanian HCIs by mail. Only one questionnaire per HCI was sent. HCI head administrative staff (e.g., director, medical director, head of administration) was asked to answer the questionnaires.

RESULTS

A total of 68 replies from all HCIs were received. Response rate to the survey was 45.3%. The eHealth system implementation was mostly expected in eAdministration (77.9%), eReimbursement (47.1%) and Institutional EPR systems (47.1%). There was a lower willingness to start implementing ePrescriptions (4.4%), a picture archiving and communication system (PACS, 8.8%), eLaboratory (11.8%) and Telemedicine (13.2%) services. A lack of competence and knowledge in eHealth system implementation was recorded in the following: digital data protection (p=0.006), IT (p=0.028), health technology (p=0.032) and National eHealth Strategy (p=0.036).

CONCLUSIONS

Most Lithuanian HCIs are planning to participate in the implementation of NESS. HCIs are mostly willing to use eAdministration, eReimbursement and Institutional electronic patient record systems. HCIs highlighted a lack of key competences in eHealth system implementation.