Exploring the Determinants of Mobile Health Adoption by Hospitals in China: Empirical Study

BACKGROUND: Although mobile health (mHealth) has the potential to transform health care by delivering better outcomes at a much lower cost than traditional health care services, little is known about mHealth adoption by hospitals. OBJECTIVE: This study aims to explore the determinants of mHealth adoption by hospitals using the technology-organization-environment (TOE) framework. METHODS: We conducted an interviewer-administered survey with 87 managers in Chinese public hospitals and analyzed the data using logistic regression. RESULTS: The results of our survey indicate that perceived ease of use (β=.692; P<.002), system security (β=.473; P<.05), top management support (β=1.466; P<.002), hospital size (β=1.069; P<.004), and external pressure (β=.703; P<.005) are significantly related to hospitals’ adoption of mHealth. However, information technology infrastructure (β=.574; P<.02), system reliability (β=−1.291; P<.01), and government policy (β=2.010; P<.04) are significant but negatively related to hospitals’ adoption of mHealth. CONCLUSIONS: We found that TOE model works in the context of mHealth adoption by hospitals. In addition to technological predictors, organizational and environmental predictors are critical for explaining mHealth adoption by Chinese hospitals.