The influence of financial factors on the deployment of telemedicine

The basic research question that guided this investigation was "Do financial indicators play a major role in decisions to deploy telemedicine?" The study also evaluated the relative importance of five specific financial indicators. Select hospital systems were asked to participate in this research. Because much has been written about the problems of access to health care in rural settings, the study included hospital systems with rural hospitals. The study also examined the importance of financial indicators to representatives of various functional disciplines. A qualitative case study approach was used for the research project.