Investigating E-health strategic planning and review of the challenges and obstacles in Iran

Health industry is one of the important and growing sections of the global economy. Every year, billions of dollars are spent to improve information systems and provide better care services and greater efficiency in the health sector organizations. Information Systems Strategic Planning (ISSP) in health sector organizations is a tool for informed decision-making to achieve the macro and micro objectives of organizations in the Health Sector and prevent the waste and failure of huge investments in information technology of the organization. This is a non-systematic review study and research data includes required papers and books collected through library and Internet. Several databases such as ProQuest, Web of Science, Scopus, Ovid, Cochrane Library Medline, ISC, Irandoc, Sid, Magiran, Iranmedex Medlib and google Scholar search engine were investigated with keywords including electronic health strategy, medical informatics, electronic health record (EHR), telemedicine and electronic prescribing, E-health strategic planning . This study demonstrated that despite many efforts to implement Electronic Health in Iran, electronic health strategy is in generalities and not fully operational, due to lack of stability and the administrative obstacles. On the other hand, the short comings in the country's IT infrastructures, attitudinal and behavioral constraints, financial constraints, rapid changes of managers and the lack of skilled manpower are of the main obstacles affecting the development of Electronic Health Strategy in Iran. To eliminate these barriers, we need to have a national strategic plan, coordination, the existence of required regulations and standards, related software applications, electronic security systems and promotion of the use of information technology in the health system of the country.