Introduction and motivation

In a review of health care information systems research (often referred to as health information technology or HIT research) published in Information Systems (IS) journals, Chiasson and Davidson (2004) challenged the IS field to expand its “contextual envelope” by embracing the health care sector as a socially important and theoretically interesting context to develop and refine information systems theory as well as to provide contextually-relevant insights on health care information systems development and use. Over the period of their review (1985–۲۰۰۳), they estimated that less than 1.5% of publications in the 17 journals examined addressed health care topics (p. 160) and over half did so by focusing exclusively on IS theory or on the health care context, rather than on the nuanced interplay of theory and context (p. 163). They noted that a critical mass of IS researchers interested in HIT topics was developing within IS conferences, but argued that for HIT research to become a viable specialization within the IS academic field, greater acceptance within high visibility, mainstream IS journals would be essential (p. 178). Over the ensuing 14 years, HIT research has grown into a well-recognized specialty within the IS academic field. For instance, most major IS field conferences1 regularly sponsor health care-focused tracks. A special interest group within the Association of Information Systems (SIG-Health)2 promotes the specialty through conference events, publication awards, and member communications. A number of IS faculties have established HIT research centers in their institutions or collaborated with university medical schools or schools of public health to do so. As we report here, health care-related papers are now being published more regularly across mainstream IS journals, indicating widespread acceptance of research in this specialty area. This rapid growth in HIT research can be attributed in large part to socio-economic and technical developments within the health care sector that have provided new opportunities and demand for HIT research. In most national economies, health care spending continues to grow rapidly as populations age and rates of chronic diseases increase. HITs, which include software and infrastructure used in the clinical practice of medicine3 as well as technologies to store, share, and analyze health information,4 have been touted as vital components to reduce health care costs and also to improve health care quality, access, and health outcomes (Chaudhry et al., 2006; Hillestad et al., 2005). Yet, many challenges have emerged including a slower than expected rate of HIT adoption, questionable usability of technologies such as Electronic Health Records (EHRs), health care professionals’ resistance to adopting or using such technologies, difficulty in changing health care processes to reap the full benefits of HIT, and the lack of interoperability between disparate systems (Kellermann & Jones, 2013).