Telehealth: the delayed revolution in health care

It is recognized that health care in rural communities could be improved significantly with the assistance of telehealth, the term by which the combined application of computer and telecommunications technologies to health care has come to be known. Yet in spite of its obvious potential, the telehealth literature has shown a surprising lack of growth. This paper reports an analysis which revealed that, between 1975 and 1990, few telehealth articles were catalogued by the National Library of Medicine, and suggests why this might have been the case. Following a brief discussion of the origins of telehealth, terminology, and the rural health care crisis, this overview examines the status of telehealth in terms of its main applications: telemedicine and tele-education. An analysis of the pattern of publications between 1975 and 1990 is then used to suggest why telehealth has not fulfilled its potential. Corrective measures are proposed and the paper concludes with a summary of recent telehealth initiatives.