Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar/handle/123456789/25819
Title: Increasing taxpayer value for money through increased usage of Malta's e-health services
Authors: Borg, Joseph
Keywords: Electronic government information -- Malta
Public administration -- Technological innovations -- Malta
Public health -- Malta
Issue Date: 2017
Abstract: The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines eHealth as “the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) for health” [1]. The advancements in ICT play a very important role in delivering high quality health care worldwide [2], [3]. eHealth allows citizens to digitally monitor their own health data online and supports health care professionals with tools in improving the care they offer [2]. Despite eHealth’s benefits, it is very important that countries promote these services to increase awareness and the uptake of eHealth services. After a survey with 205 respondents carried out as part of this project, it emerged that 23% of Maltese citizens make use of eHealth services, while only 7% access myHealth, the portal where citizens can monitor their health data online. Although significant investments have been made in the development of the Ministry of Health’s eHealth portal (http://www.health.gov.mt) and its myHealth portal (https://myhealth.gov.mt ), which requires authentication in order to use, the current usage of eGovernment health services in Malta is very low. This project aimed to discover why the usage of such a widely applicable service is so low among the Maltese population. In this regard, a survey, domain expert interviews, and usability testing about the eHealth and myHealth portals were carried out. Maltese citizens expressed their opinion regarding Malta’s eHealth services in general, suggested how could they be improved and recommended various new services which could be offered – both to increase usage of this service, as well as to encourage non-users to start using these beneficial services. Following the process of data collection and detailed data analysis, an eHealth prototype portal was developed to improve the usability of the original eHealth portal and add new services, as requested by users. Elements of the myHealth portal that should not require authentication were moved into the eHealth portal for greater accessibility. The results showed that the introduction of completely new services to the eHealth website would attract more users to it; also that the newly accessible myHealth services from the eHealth portal would encourage more users to start using those myHealth services that still required authentication. Furthermore, the usability testing of the newly redesigned eHealth prototype portal showed a marked improvement in time taken to find information on the site; moreover, users managed to successfully complete substantially more tasks in the eHealth prototype portal than in its currently live counterpart, the official eHealth portal of the Government of Malta.
Description: B.SC.IT(HONS)
URI: https://www.um.edu.mt/library/oar//handle/123456789/25819
Appears in Collections:Dissertations - FacICT - 2017

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