Perceptions of Local Health Care Quality in 7 Rural Communities with Telemedicine

Abstract

The introduction of telemedicine into rural communities is associated with increases in the local communities' perception of local health care quality. Therefore, is it possible that telemedicine may result in a decrease in the desire and need for local patients to travel outside of their community for health care services.

Impact of Critical Care Telemedicine Consultations on Children in Rural Emergency Departments*

“…Although there have been several published reports describing the use of telemedicine in the ED, most are descriptive, reporting feasibility and preliminary results (29,(46)(47)(48). More objective studies have demonstrated that telemedicine results in similar diagnostic accuracy compared with face-to-face consultations for some nonemergent diagnoses (31,47).…”

Interplay of cost and adoption of tele-medicine in Sub-Saharan Africa: The case of tele-cardiology in Ethiopia

“…Tele-Medicine enables medical personnel working in remote areas to seamlessly transfer medical laboratory results and patient data to hospitals and clinics for diagnostics and advice . This global technology enables remote and displaced communities to utilize otherwise unavailable specialist skills located at centers of medical excellence worldwide (Bashshur, Sanders and Shannon, 1997;Taylor, 1998;Wootton, 1995;Moore, 2002;Katstania, 2004;Nesbitt et al, 2005).…”

Patients’ Satisfaction with and Preference for Telehealth Visits

“…9 Several studies have found that the quality of telehealth services and patients' clinical outcomes following telehealth visits may be comparable to those of traditional face-to-face office visits, with the additional benefit of superior access to care. 10,11 Based on the accumulating positive evidence, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has expanded geographic coverage for telemedicine and coverage for new services such as wellness visits and psychotherapy, [12][13][14][15] and 19 states have passed Bparity^legis-lation requiring third-party payers to reimburse for telehealth visits. 9 The ACA mandates further study of and reimbursement for telehealth services.…”