Telemedicine (also known as e-care) is the remote delivery of healthcare services over the telecommunications infrastructure.
The American Telemedicine Association offers some examples of telemedicine:
• A radiologist interprets medical images coming from four clinics across the state.
• A consumer uses a wireless phone to automatically upload vital signs and send it to a remote monitoring center.
• A cardiologist checks up on a heart transplant patient while away on a business trip, reviewing the patient’s chart, looking at live heart rhythms and talking to the patient.
Telemedicine is a subset of telehealth, which includes both remote clinical service delivery and non-clinical elements of the healthcare system. In practice, however, the two terms are often used interchangeably.
Learn more:
FAQ: What is telemedicine and how can it save money?
How telemedicine can change health IT.
This was last updated in January 2011
Editorial Director: Margaret Rouse
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