Telemedicine Adoption by Different Groups of Physicians

This study addresses the factors that could affect the intention of physicians to adopt telemedicine technology. Based on the theoretical foundations of technology adoption models, a revised model is proposed and tested via a questionnaire with two groups of physicians that were, at the time of the survey, just about to use telemedicine technology. Group A is composed of physicians from a large urban healthcare provider institution involved in clinical, teaching, and research activities, and will soon use a telemedicine intranet solution. Group B is composed of physicians from rural areas who will eventually be linked to a telemedicine network. Results analyzed with PLS indicate that in both cases, physicians' perception of usefulness of telemedicine is positively related to their intention to adopt this technology. This is the only common result between the two groups. Other significant yet different results indicate that the reactions of two types of potential adopters of telemedicine are influenced by their background and environment. This revised model helps in distinguishing the shades in the intention of adopting telemedicine between two distinct groups of physicians.