Expectations and attitudes in eHealth: A survey among patients of Dutch private healthcare organizations

Internet usage has been steadily increasing over recent years, and people have become used to manage the medical aspects of their lives using the Internet. Meanwhile, many organizational changes are influencing the provision of healthcare. This raises the question whether the demands of healthcare patients match the current online healthcare (or: eHealth) interventions, and which interventions are the most interesting. In order to explore the attitude of citizens/patients for (new) eHealth services an adapted version of the technology acceptance model is developed and tested, using a survey held among health consumers in private healthcare organizations. The results of this survey showed that services like online prescription refills and online appointments are deemed useful. Also, patients are in need for quality information regarding health issues. This indicates that patients are ready for the adoption of eHealth services, but providers of such services should make sure that it is easy to use and that using it has a clear advantage.