Keynote Talk

Telehealth/Telemedicine Evolution - Driven by Technology or Need?

Abstract

Telehealth system, and its subspecialty - Telemedicine, have progressed from complex collection of innovative and unique technological elements to the systematic integration of off-the-shelf components. They progressed from being challenged by clinicians for not having sufficient quality to communicate on-demand better clinical information than ever presented. Yet, through most of the last two decades, Telehealth was mentioned in public only when it made newsworthy events. Like those that cover the: diagnosis of trauma condition of research scientist while at the South Pole base station without access to medical assistance, the US Army doctors remotely treated soldiers under combat conditions in Afghanistan, the American urologist performed surgical procedure on a patient in France.

However, recent disasters like those in Haiti, Chile and Japan demonstrated that TeleHealth systems became to be part of the armament of solutions that can reliably and under varied conditions extends care where otherwise it will not be available. In addition, the recent adoption of IT and telecommunication tools by healthcare providers and projects around the world that built information about best practice of telehealth tools and their role in promoting communities' health. Both argue well for wider telehealth adoption.

This presentation will review the forces and the barriers to main stream deployment of TeleHealth systems. The slow progress in the deployment of such solutions to improve quality, contain cost and extend access to managing chronic diseases, supporting home care, promote health prevention, and serving remote communities needs suggests that better understanding of these forces and drivers by developers, integrators, users and payers is needed.