Leapfrogging for Modern ICT Usage in the Health Care Sector

Health Care has traditionally been dominated by a strong professional culture, to which information and communications technology has not maybe fitted in the optimal way. Currently, however, strong currents are changing the intellectual climate in the field. Modern information and communications technology is being taken into usage in the Health Care sector at an increasing pace. This article provides and overview of the activities related to modern information and communications technology in the Health Care Sector. Our research questions are: 1. Which reasons led to the late adoption of modern ICT in the Health Care sector? 2. Why is the situation now changing fast? 3. Which seem to be the main application areas? 4. Which kind of progress we can now see? To each of the research questions, we allocate one chapter in our paper. This article is conceptual in nature, but argumentation is supported by concrete examples. The main conclusions are that • Starting from “scratch” has made a fast development in the field possible as it comes to modern ICT • Developments have been very fast: on the other hand demand for information and ICT has too grown enormously • ICT has been a total change agent for the industry, and a needed one • Fast introduction of modern ICT has been made possible through the simultaneous introduction of many modern management techniques such as quality assurance • Internet was and is the “killer platform” in this industry too • The whole sector has turned from a handicraft industry to knowledge industry