ABSTRACT
This chapter characterizes the context of this research project. Information about the distribution of population, hospitals and hospital beds is provided, along with a comparison of these features among the three states. The chapter also explains the relevant telecommunications and telemedicine policies of each state. In addition, this chapter describes the study population in terms of the survey questions and responses. It provides background information obtained from the survey and from qualitative research, which serves as a backdrop for the data and analyses of the diffusion modeling. Finally, the chapter supplies summary statistics for the variables included in the diffusion model and reports the results of bivariate analyses of the relationships between the independent variables of the diffusion model and the dependent variable, adoption of telemedicine.
