Telehealth

Telehealth is the use of electronic information and telecommunication technologies to support long-distance clinical health care, patient and professional health-related education, health administration, and public health.This includes data sharing by way of patient portals and electronic medical records. Telehealth encompasses a broad range of technologies and services used to provide patient care, health education, public health services, and health administration remotely using telecommunications technologies.

Telemedicine is sometimes used as a synonym but is actually a subset of telehealth. The Federation of State Medical Boards defines telemedicine as "the practice of medicine using electronic communication, information technology, or other means between a physician in one location, and a patient in another location, with or without an intervening health care provider." When rural settings, lack of transport, a lack of mobility, conditions due to outbreaks, epidemics or pandemics, decreased funding, or a lack of staff restrict access to care, telemedicine may bridge the gap and can even improve retention in treatment as well as provide distance-learning; meetings, supervision, and presentations between practitioners; online information and health data management and healthcare system integration. EHealth encompasses a wide range of applications, including but not limited to the following:

  • Two clinicians discussing a case via video conference;
  • Robotic surgery performed through remote access;
  • Physical therapy conducted using digital monitoring instruments, live feed, and application combinations;
  • Diagnostic tests transferred between facilities for interpretation by a higher specialist;
  • Home monitoring through continuous transmission of patient health data;
  • Online consultations between patients and practitioners;
  • Video remote interpretation services for clinical visits.
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