2001 Report to Congress on Telemedicine

2001  | Office for the Advancement of Telehealth, HRSA

Health Resources and Services Administration, Department of Health and Human Services

Executive Summary
The Healthcare Research and Quality Act of 1999, Section 6, requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to submit a Report to Congress on Telemedicine by 2001. Congress requested that the report describe barriers to telemedicine, determine the extent of patient and physician satisfaction with this mode of health delivery and assess patient benefits from telemedicine services. What exactly is meant by telemedicine and telehealth? In the Department of Commerce's 1997 Report to Congress, "telemedicine" referred to "the use of electronic communication and information technologies to provide or support clinical care at a distance." Telehealth is a broader concept. For the purposes of this report, telehealth is defined as the use of electronic information and telecommunications technologies to support long-distance clinical health care, patient and professional health-related education, public health and health administration.

Full report is available here.