Telemedicine: an overview

Telemedicine involves the transfer of medical data for use in diagnosis, treatment and education. The interaction may involve two-way live audio and video visits between patients and medical professionals, sending patient monitoring data from the home to a clinic or transmitting patient images and medical file from a primary care provider to a specialist. Telemedicine is already widely used in radiology, cardiac monitoring and other forms of remote patient monitoring and in targeted population groups such as correctional care populations, the military and veterans' health care.