Mobile technology and healthcare: the adoption issues and systemic problems

Although the benefits that are associated with mobile technology have been recognised as offering great potential in the healthcare sector, its widespread adoption has been lagging. We propose that fundamental systemic issues are likely to be the main barriers to adoption. We explain that the fragmented nature of the conservative healthcare system, the contradictory incentives and improper outcome measures conspire to make the innovative adoption of mobile technology problematic. Researchers can only gain a limited understanding of a technology's potential success by using technology adoption frameworks and need to supplement this with a 'systems' perspective that takes a more strategic view.