Electronic home healthcare: concepts and challenges

Telemedicine in homecare--also known as telehomecare (THC) or electronic home healthcare--uses telecommunication and videoconferencing technologies to enable a healthcare provider at the clinical site to communicate with patients in their home. Such an interaction is called a "virtual visit". Numerous applications are utilising commercially available monitoring devices and the internet to enable home-based disease management and monitoring. Prior to the implementation of telehomecare applications, one needs to address issues of accessible design, privacy and confidentiality of medical data, and reimbursement. The evaluation of such applications should focus on their impact on clinical processes, outcomes, cost of and access to care, patients' and providers' acceptance. This paper provides an overview of the concepts and challenges of electronic home healthcare.