Authors' objectives: This report includes suggested approaches to the assessment of telemedicine, which draw in particular on earlier documents prepared by FinOHTA and AHFMR. The report also briefly considers possible impediments to creation of a fully developed telemedicine society.

Authors' recommendations: Telemedicine is an information and communications technology which shows promise in improving quality and efficiency of health care. There is increasing use of telemedicine in many countries. Those seeking to introduce telemedicine will need to give general consideration to a number of areas, including population and services, personnel and consumers, delivery arrangements, and specifications and costs, so that a business case can be made for acquiring this technology. The most convicing evidence from the review regarding the effectiveness of telemedicine deals with teleradiology, teleneurosurgery, telepsychiatry and transmission of echocardiographic images. Promising results have also been obtained for the transmision of electrocardiograms. However, even in these applications, most of the available literature refers only to pilot projects and short term outcomes.

Authors' methods: Systematic review

Project Status: Completed

Year Published: 1999

URL for published report: https://www.ihe.ca/advanced-search?type=1020

English language abstract: An English language summary is available

Publication Type: Not Assigned

Country: Canada

Organisation Name: Institute of Health Economics

Contact Address: 1200, 10405 Jasper Avenue, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, T5J 3N4. Tel: +1 780 448 4881; Fax: +1 780 448 0018;

Contact Name: djuzwishin@ihe.ca

Contact Email: djuzwishin@ihe.ca

Copyright: Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research