Telehealth

Abstract

Telehealth, a term used interchangeably with telemedicine, has been defined as the use of medical information that is exchanged from one site to another through electronic communication to improve a patient’s health.¹ The purpose of this article is to present policy-relevant trends in telehealth adoption, to describe the state of the telehealth evidence base, and to assist physicians, other health care professionals, and researchers in identifying key priorities for telehealth research. Such research is necessary to fully realize the promise of telehealth to address socially desirable goals such as the quadruple aim in health care: improving the patient experience of care, improving the health of populations, reducing the per capita cost of health care, and improving the experience of providing care.