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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Public Health
Sec. Health Economics
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1398136

Interlinking Fintech and eHealth: a qualitative study

Provisionally accepted
  • Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    This study investigates the integration of financial technology (FinTech) and electronic health (eHealth) to explore the opportunities, challenges, and implications arising from their interlinkage in Saudi Arabia. Utilizing qualitative semi-structured interviews with 26 participants-including physicians, patients, technical and administrative managers, and FinTech consultants-the research adopts an inductive approach to understand diverse perspectives. Key findings reveal significant benefits such as improved efficiency in administrative processes, enhanced access to healthcare services, increased financial inclusion, better decision-making, improved patient experience, and the promotion of innovation and sustainability. However, barriers including regulatory challenges, data privacy and security concerns, interoperability issues, the digital divide, resistance to change, and cost implications were also identified. Overall, the integration of FinTech and eHealth holds substantial promise for advancing healthcare delivery in Saudi Arabia. Future implications include the expansion of telehealth services, an increase in startups, the integration of wearable health devices, blockchain-based systems, evolving regulatory frameworks, and heightened collaborations.Addressing the identified challenges is crucial for realizing the full potential of this integration.

    Keywords: FinTech, eHealth, Saudi Arabia, Interlink, Benefits, healthcare, Digital payments

    Received: 15 Mar 2024; Accepted: 19 Jul 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Al-Anezi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Fahad Al-Anezi, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.