Barriers to the adoption of electronic medical records in select Philippine hospitals: A case study approach

The Philippine healthcare industry is in constant pursuit to provide quality medical services to every Filipino. Technology plays a pivotal role in this journey as it triggers the mechanism for the industry stakeholders to innovate and adjust to the dynamic requirements of healthcare. At the core of this technological revolution in healthcare is the digitalization of patients’ medical records. This paper investigates barriers encountered by healthcare providers in adopting Electronic Medical Records, a technology considered as a basic necessity in majority of developed economies. Data is gathered through the guidance of the Technology-Organization-Environment. A multiple case study is operationalized to understand the barriers in the adoption of EMRs at an organizational level. Technology barriers include complexity, weak infrastructure and poor interface design. Organizational barriers are user resistance and the lack of appropriate skills. Environmental barriers include difficulty in regulatory compliance and inadequate medical school orientation. Limitations and future directions are discussed by this paper and followed by its conclusion. © 2019 Association for Computing Machinery