Health and Digital Technologies: Access to and Use of ICT Among Brazilian Healthcare Facilities

Despite the relevance achieved by information and communication technologies (ICT) over the years, only a few empirical studies have been carried out on the uses of ICT in the health system profile of Brazil. The main objective of this paper is to discuss the overall adoption of ICT among Brazilian healthcare facilities. It relies on the data made available by the Brazilian ICT in Health survey conducted by the Brazilian Internet Steering Committee (CGI.br). Its scope includes public and private healthcare facilities and healthcare professionals (physicians and nurses). The main results have shown that, although the basic infrastructure for ICT is widespread in Brazilian healthcare facilities, there are still significant inequalities in ICT adoption, depending on geographical region and administrative jurisdiction. The survey has also confirmed continuing low availability of online services to patients. Building on the analyses of the survey, it can be inferred that ICT in health still requires policies to promote its implementation, with special attention to inequalities.