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5 - Policies, barriers, and other issues

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 September 2009

Joseph C. Kvedar
Affiliation:
Department of Dermatology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Karen Rheuban
Affiliation:
Office of Telemedicine, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA
Karen E. Edison
Affiliation:
Department of Dermatology and Missouri Telehealth Network, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri, USA
Hon S. Pak
Affiliation:
Brooke Army Medical Center, San Antonio, Texas
Karen E. Edison
Affiliation:
University of Missouri, Columbia
John D. Whited
Affiliation:
Duke University Medical Center, Durham
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Summary

Introduction

A steady progression toward telemedicine-enabled care has been evident for several years. Telemedicine activities within the Department of Veterans Affairs, the U.S. Military, the Indian Health Service and public and private payers and providers are all progressing independently at various speeds and in various forms.

Given clinician shortages, an aging population, a national consciousness on healthcare affordability and quality, the ubiquity of high quality and affordable telecommunication infrastructure, we are at the beginning of an inflection point of increased activity and progress in the march toward telemedicine. This is evident in a variety of ways; here are three examples:

  1. At a symposium on the accelerating use of communication technologies convened at the Conference Center at Harvard Medical in 2005, James Mongan, MD, president of Partners HealthCare System, remarked, “it is inconceivable to imagine the future of healthcare without a heavy reliance on telemedicine-related products and services.” More importantly, Dr Mongan identified telemedicine activities as among the institutional priorities of Partners HealthCare, the healthcare system formed by Brigham and Women's Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital, both leading Harvard Medical School teaching hospitals.

  2. […]

Type
Chapter
Information
Teledermatology
A User's Guide
, pp. 44 - 56
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2008

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References

Telemedicine for the Medicare Population. Summary, Evidence Report/Technology Assessment: Number 24. AHRQ Publication Number 01-E011. Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, February 2001. http://www.ahrq.gov/clinic/epcsums/telemedsum.htm. Last accessed on August 25, 2007.
Hersh WR., Hickam DH, Severance SM, Dana TL, Krages KP, Helfand M. Telemedicine for the Medicare Population: Update. Evidence Report/Technology Assessment No. 131 (Prepared by the Oregon Evidence-based Practice Center under Contract No. 290-02-0024. AHRQ Publication No. 06-E007. Rockville, MD: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, February 2006.

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