Assessment of health information technology: which questions for which systems? Proposal for a taxonomy.

After a brief description of the main domains of application of medical informatics, a typology of questions to be assessed, and of the involved actors, is presented. Dimensions of technology assessment include techniques, medical and health efficacy, economics, sociology, and law and ethics. Barriers to evaluation are analysed. They include barriers related to the domain complexity, human motivation and methodological barriers. Finally categories of solutions and research areas are suggested.