THE IMPACT OF INTERNET USAGE ON HEALTH-CARE EXPENDITURES AND SUSTAINABILITY

Introduction: The increasing age, the presence of different diseases that affect the health of individuals and the new opportunities of access to information are changing the process of acquisition of data on health status. Very often, the process of autonomous research of information leads to wrong self-diagnosis with consequent repercussions on health expenditures (e.g.: unnecessary hospitalization) and, generally, on sustainability of health systems. Scope: This work aims to examine the influence of Digital Divide and Internet Usage (DD/IU) on autonomous Health Information Seeking (HIC) process, in order to get useful information about its impact on Healthcare Expenditures per Individual (HEPI). Similarly, this work aims to recognize and understand, from an economical, organizational and technological perspective, the correlation between DD/IU-HIS and HEPI. Methods: To discover the link between DD/IU, HIS and HEPI, we conducted a systematic literature review in order to understand the network of behind these concepts and we applied the Panel Linear Model (PLM) approach in a case study to prove the correlation. Findings: By analysing the literature on between DD/IU and HIS ties have emerged between the re-search topics. These findings have been also revealed by a significative impact. This suggests that, since people live longer, the more individuals access the Internet to get information on health status, the more effective the health expenditure is. All of this has repercussions on the long-term sustainability of the health system, requiring a re-modulation of the services provided, the professionalism and the technologies adopted.