Telemedicine: a new dimension in the practice of medicine

Telemedicine has drawn increasing attention as one of the emerging service delivery vehicles running on the information highway. Until recently, the adoption of telemedicine has been discouraged by the cost of telecommunications and equipment and by the lack of infrastructure, standards, and evidence of cost-effectiveness and cultural acceptance. Although there have been attempts to reduce costs by making use of computer communication networks, they were technically limited by slow network speed and the lack of real-time audio/video compression technology. Ongoing technologic advances in telecommunications, imaging, multimedia computers, and information systems are making interactive telemedicine increasingly possible as high-speed video, voice, and data services are brought to large segments of the general population. The current synergy between health reform initiatives, which are redefining how health care services are accessed and delivered, and advances in technologies that support telemedicine has resulted in a proliferation of telemedicine projects. However, there is still no proof that telemedicine is necessarily cost-effective for a broad set of applications. Each prospective application requires its own business case analysis. Within the current environment, the development of a telemedicine strategy should be based on a sound knowledge of the current and future potential of telemedicine to improve health care access and quality while containing and possibly reducing health care costs.