Factors affecting success of an integrated community-based telehealth system.

BACKGROUND The rise of chronic and degenerative diseases in developed countries has become one critical epidemiologic issue. Telehealth can provide one viable way to enhance health care, public health, and health education delivery and support. OBJECTIVE The study aims to empirically examine and evaluate the success factors of community-based telehealth system adoption. METHODS The valid 336 respondents are the residents of a rural community in Taiwan. The structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to assess the proposed model applied to telehealth. RESULTS The findings showed the research model had good explanatory power and fitness. Also, the findings indicated that system quality exerted the strongest overall effect on intention to use. Furthermore, service quality exerted the strongest overall effect on user satisfaction. The findings also illustrated that the joint effects of three intrinsic qualities (system quality, information quality, and service quality) on use were mediated by user satisfaction and intention to use. CONCLUSION The study implies that community-based telehealth service providers should improve three intrinsic qualities to enhance user satisfaction and intention to use, which in turn can lead to increase the usage of the telehealth equipment. The integrated community-based telehealth system may become an innovative and suitable way to deliver better care to the residents of communities.