In the age of digitization, a growing percentage of services are becoming available online, and this trend is affecting healthcare too. As evolving technology creates more avenues for physicians to deliver affordable and instant care to their patients, there has been a sharp increase in the number of telemedicine implementations across the world.1 As in other disciplines, guidelines and regulations on telemedicine lag behind the use of the technology and are still being crafted and modified. For example, the new nationwide policy on telemedicine of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) of the US Government became effective in mid-2018 and incorporates the opinion and recommendations made 7 years earlier. In recent years, the VA spent over $1 billion a year on transportation of veterans to and from hospitals; now with telemedicine, this amount can be used increasingly for other purposes. This cost-saving experience at the national scale should alert industry actors, national governments, and consumers of the growing urgency to address the policy and regulatory aspects of telemedicine to provide healthcare services with greater speed, quality, and safety to rapidly increasing percentages of citizens of their respective countries.
Commission E. Directorate-General for Research and Innovation. Population ageing in Europe: Facts, implications and policies: Outcomes of EU-funded research. 2014.
2.
González RI, Rodríguez A. La Telemedicina en Cuba: Antecedentes. In: Estado Actual y Proyectos en Desarrollo, I Congreso Iberoamericano de Telesalud y Telemedicina y VII Reunión Regional de ATALACC. 2014.
3.
n.d SUCURSALESPROVINCIALES. 2019;
4.
Beltrán R, María N, Gómez P. Clínica virtual docente: un espacio formativo para la enseñanza de las ciencias médicas. MEDISAN. 2017;
5.
Rodríguez-Ramos MA. Increasing Quality of Secondary Prevention of Acute Myocardial Infarction by Using E-Health. High Blood Pressure & Cardiovascular Prevention. 2019;26(1):81–2.
6.
González Y, Antón S. Conectar Salud Con Tecnologías... Una Necesidad De Estos Tiempos”. GranmaCu. 2018;
7.
Gupta A, Sao D. The Constitutionality of Current Legal Barriers to Telemedicine in the United States: Analysis and Future Directions of its Relationship to National and International Health Care Reform. Health Matrix. 2010;21:385–442.
8.
VA Expands Telehealth By Allowing Health Care Providers To Treat Patients Across State Lines”. VaGov. 2018;
9.
Initiative SC.
10.
interview SGP. 2019;
11.
Ooi LC, Koh G, Tan L. National telemedicine guidelines of Singapore. 2015;
12.
Bhunia P. Singapore’s proposed Healthcare Services Bill to regulate telemedicine and make data contribution to the NEHR mandatory. 2018.
13.
Loh V. Amid debate about telemedicine, 4 more providers join MOH regulatory initiative. September. 2018;11.
14.
Presentación de la Universidad Virtual de Salud. 2019;n.d.
15.
Busse R, Blümel M, Scheller-Kreinsen D, Zentner A. Tackling chronic disease in Europe: Strategies, interventions and challenges.
16.
Statistics on rural areas in the EU – Statistics explained. June. 2018;
17.
Rasmussen J. Universal Solutions In Telemedicine Deployment For European HEALTH Care. United4health. 2016;
18.
Bouvet R, Desmarais P. Etienne Minvielle Legal and Organizational Barriers to the Development of eHealth in France, 34 Med. L. 2015(361).
19.
n° LOI. de financement de la sécurité sociale pour. 2017;2017–1836.
20.
Andrès E, Talha S, Zulfiqar AA, Hajjam M, Ervé S, Hajjam J, et al. Current Research and New Perspectives of Telemedicine in Chronic Heart Failure: Narrative Review and Points of Interest for the Clinician. Journal of Clinical Medicine. 7(12):544.
21.
Andrès E, Talha S, Hajjam M, Hajjam J, Ervé S, Hajjam A. Experimentation of 2.0 telemedicine in elderly patients with chronic heart failure: A study prospective in 175 patients. European Journal of Internal Medicine. 2018;51:e11–2.
22.
Alami H, Gagnon MP, Wootton R, Fortin JP, Zanaboni P. Exploring factors associated with the uneven utilization of telemedicine in Norway: a mixed methods study. BMC Medical Informatics and Decision Making. 2017;17(1).
23.
Buvik A, Bergmo TS, Bugge E, Smaabrekke A, Wilsgaard T, Olsen JA. Cost-Effectiveness of Telemedicine in Remote Orthopedic Consultations: Randomized Controlled Trial. Journal of Medical Internet Research. 21(2):e11330.
24.
Repubblica IPD. 2015.
25.
Trovato A, Reid A, Takarinda KC, Montaldo C, Decroo T, Owiti P, et al. Dangerous crossing: demographic and clinical features of rescued sea migrants seen in 2014 at an outpatient clinic at Augusta Harbor, Italy. Conflict and Health. 2016;10(1).
26.
Borsari L, Stancanelli G, Guarenti L, Grandi T, Leotta S, Barcellini L, et al. An Innovative Mobile Health System to Improve and Standardize Antenatal Care Among Underserved Communities: A Feasibility Study in an Italian Hosting Center for Asylum Seekers. Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health. 2018;20(5):1128–36.
27.
Li H, Zhang T, Chi H, Chen Y, Li Y, Wang J. Mobile health in China: Current status and future development. Asian Journal of Psychiatry. 2014;10:101–4.
28.
Classification of digital health interventions. 2018.
29.
Rural India is far behind Urban India in every Indicator of Progress. 2015;
30.
India Population 2019 – Current Population of India. 2019;
31.
Rural population | Data. The World Bank. 2018;
32.
Bollineni R. Apollo telemedicine networking foundation. Access Health Int. 2011;18.
33.
Projects. Apollo Tele Health Services. 2017;
34.
Wangchuk R. Uttarakhand DM’s award-winning initiative connects citizens to 20+ health schemes. 2019;
35.
Post G. THDCIL spearheads telemedicine health scheme in Tehri.
36.
L SSN. Challenges in managing telemedicine centers in remote tribal hilly areas of Uttarakhand.
37.
Empowering Society by Nurturing Changemakers | DISQ Digital Impact Square. 2019;n.d.
38.
Tele-health services made operational in Kumbh Mela at Ujjain – ISRO. Indian Space Research Organisation.
39.
Wang Z, Gu H. A review of telemedicine in China. Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare. 2009;15(1):23–7.
40.
Lacktman N, Nerwich DN. Teleconsultation Services for the Mobile Workforce. 2019;12.
41.
Cai H, Wang H, Guo T, Bao G. Application of Telemedicine in Gansu Province of China. PLOS ONE. 11(6):e0158026.
42.
Zhao J, Zhang Z, Guo H, Ren L, Chen S. Development and Recent Achievements of Telemedicine in China. Telemedicine and e-Health. 2010;16(5):634–8.
43.
Gao X, Xu J, Sorwar G, Croll P. Implementation of E-Health Record Systems and E-Medical Record Systems in China. The International Technology Management Review. 2013;3(2):127.
44.
Schellhase J. 21st century nomads: Life in the Mongolian Steppe. September. 2015;9.
45.
Jenkins T, Baatar T, Suldsuren N. In remote Mongolia, telemedicine connects pregnant women to faraway care. 2015;
46.
Tsedmaa B, Narmandakh S, Shinetugs B, Khishgee S. Telemedicine support of maternal and newborn health to remote provinces of Mongolia. Stud Health Technol Inform. 2012;182:27–35.
47.
Tali D. Mongolia’s dramatic improvement of maternal care for Nomads. Vol. n.d. 2019.
48.
Malik AZ. Telemedicine Country Report-Pakistan. 2007 9th International Conference on e-Health Networking, Application and Services. 2007. p. 90–4.
49.
News D. Sehat Kahani, a startup aiming to empower female doctors across Pakistan, raises $500,000 in seed funding. 2018.
50.
Bhattacharya A. Pressured to give up their careers, Pakistan’s “doctor-wives” are using tech to find work again. September. 2017;5.
51.
Khuraam SS, Aga IZ. Sehat Kahani | The story of health. Vol. n.d. 2019.
Citation
Copyright
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
The statements, opinions and data contained in the journal are solely those of the individual authors and contributors and not of the publisher and the editor(s). We stay neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
