Pay-per-use concept in healthcare: a grounded theory perspective

Healthcare organizations worldwide are faced with the growing challenge of introducing structural and technological reforms and cost-effective IT solutions that will transform the traditional structure of healthcare provision. Current technological developments have shed optimistic light on the future of IT in healthcare. This paper introduces a 'Pay-per-use' concept in healthcare delivery services, which could prove appropriate for a small country like the State of Kuwait. The research question is directed towards the appropriateness and usefulness of such a concept. The need for effective and efficient healthcare delivery services in health organizations implies the need to establish a healthcare paradigm that is investment, communication, technology, platform, database, application-independent. The grounded theory (GT) forms the basis of the new concept, using a social context and referring to a typical clinical scenario. The social process fundamental to GT provides a specific and systematic approach to understand medical work and a network of relationships among healthcare entities. Interpretations and analysis of data in the social context facilitates clearer understanding of concepts and categories and enables the formulation of a theory and a model architecture. The State of Kuwait is a typical example of a small country with rapidly advancing IT, where the new concept can be put to the test within the required infrastructure for the development of a beneficial healthcare delivery system in the country.