Telehealth: 'real life' implementation issues

This paper addresses the practical issues specific to the successful integration of telehealth into the Canadian health system at national, regional, provincial and territorial levels. Five key issues for optimal implementation were readiness of the environment; needs analysis/strategic business plans/diverse partnerships; equipment and Information Technology (IT) vendors; staged implementation; and evaluation. Strong professional, as well as technical policy standards, were also required. Recognizing the importance of human factors and workforce implications, the change process, and the changing culture were also viewed as critical to successful implementation. The importance of 'best practices', 'lessons learned', 'buy-in', inter-connectivity, inter-operability, and sustainability issues was noted. Lastly, ongoing systemic evaluation was seen to be key to sustained telehealth programs.