The future of remote health services: summary of an expert panel discussion.
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Date
2007-07-02
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Abstract
Health Technology Center HealthTech a nonprofit research and education organization that develops objective technology forecasts hosted an expert panel discussion aimed at delineating the future of remote health services RHS RHS is defined as involving patient care interactions that are geographically disparate and enabled by telecommunications information technology and sensor technology Key players involved are physicians and nonphysician clinicians sick or healthy individuals and their friends or family An expert panel gathered October 2006 in San Francisco CA to respond to the forecasts generated by HealthTech regarding the expected impact of RHS on health care in the next 2 to 5 years and beyond The panel consisted of a carefully selected group of experts representing diverse viewpoints and included clinicians providers engineers lawyers consumer representatives policy makers developers representatives of large employers academics and workforce experts The interaction of the interdisciplinary expert panel produced a number of key implications pertaining to the delivery of RHS and its influence on the healthcare industry Drivers and barriers to the diffusion of RHS were delineated and the full potential value of the technology to patients health delivery systems and health plans was analyzed in depth The expert panel provided a plethora of information predicting the future course of RHS and its impact on health delivery While the complete report and set of forecasts that stems from this research are proprietary this paper offers a summary of that meeting