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Suggested Citation:"FRONT MATTER." Institute of Medicine. 1996. Telemedicine: A Guide to Assessing Telecommunications for Health Care. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5296.
×

Telemedicine

A Guide to Assessing Telecommunications in Health Care

Committee on Evaluating Clinical Applications of Telemedicine

Marilyn J. Field, Editor

Division of Health Care Services

INSTITUTE OF MEDICINE

NATIONAL ACADEMY PRESS
Washington, D.C.
1996

Suggested Citation:"FRONT MATTER." Institute of Medicine. 1996. Telemedicine: A Guide to Assessing Telecommunications for Health Care. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5296.
×

National Academy Press 2101 Constitution Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20418

NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard for appropriate balance.

This report has been reviewed by a group other than the authors according to procedures approved by a Report Review Committee consisting of members of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine.

The Institute of Medicine was chartered in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences to enlist distinguished members of the appropriate professions in the examination of policy matters pertaining to the health of the public. In this, the Institute acts under both the Academy's 1863 congressional charter responsibility to be an adviser to the federal government and its own initiative in identifying issues of medical care, research, and education. Dr. Kenneth I. Shine is president of the Institute of Medicine.

Support for this project was provided by the National Library of Medicine and the Health Care Financing Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, under Contract No. N01-OD-4-2139. Additional support for dissemination of the report was provided by GTE. The views presented are those of the Institute of Medicine Committee on Evaluating Clinical Applications of Telemedicine and are not necessarily those of the funding organizations.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Institute of Medicine (U.S.). Committee on Evaluating ClinicalApplications of Telemedicine.

Telemedicine: a guide to assessing telecommunications in health care / Committee on Evaluating Clinical Applications of Telemedicine, Division of Health Care Services, Institute of Medicine; Marilyn J. Field, editor.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 09-309-05531-8

1. Telecommunications in medicine—Evaluation. 2. Telecommunications in medicine—United States—Evaluation. I. Field, Marilyn J. (Marilyn Jane) II. Title.

[DNLM: 1. Telemedicine—standards—United States. 2. Program Evaluation—methods. W 84 AA1 I4828t 1996]

R119.9.I56 1996 First Printing, October 1996

362.1'028—dc20 Second Printing, November 1997

DNLM/DLC

for Library of Congress 96-30101

CIP

Additional copies of this report are available from National Academy Press, 2101 Constitution Avenue, N.W., Box 285, Washington, D.C. 20055. Call 800-624-6242 (or 202-334- 3313 in the Washington metropolitan area). http://www.nap.edu.

The serpent has been a symbol of long life, healing, and knowledge among almost all cultures and religions since the beginning of recorded history. The image adopted as a logotype by the Institute of Medicine is based on a relief carving from ancient Greece, now held by the Staatliche Museen in Berlin.

Copyright 1996 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.

Printed in the United States of America

Suggested Citation:"FRONT MATTER." Institute of Medicine. 1996. Telemedicine: A Guide to Assessing Telecommunications for Health Care. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5296.
×

COMMITTEE ON EVALUATING CLINICAL APPLICATIONS OF TELEMEDICINE

JOHN R. BALL, M.D., J.D.,* Chair, President and CEO,

Pennsylvania Hospital, Philadelphia

MICKEY S. EISENBERG, M.D., Ph.D.,* Director,

Emergency Medicine Service, University of Washington Medical Center, Seattle

MELVYN GREBERMAN, M.D., M.P.H., Associate Director for Medical Affairs Division of Small Manufacturers Assistance,

Food and Drug Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Rockville, Maryland

MICHAEL HATTWICK, M.D., President,

Woodburn Internal Medicine Associates, Annandale, Virginia

SUSAN D. HORN, Ph.D., Senior Scientist,

Institute for Clinical Outcomes Research, Salt Lake City, Utah

PETER O. KOHLER, M.D.,* President,

Oregon Health Sciences University, Portland

NINA W. MATHESON, M.L.,* Director Emerita, William H. Welch Library,

Professor of Medical Information, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland

DAVID B. NASH, M.D., Director of Health Policy and Clinical Outcomes,

Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, Philadelphia

JUDITH OZBOLT, Ph.D., R.N., Professor,

University of Virginia School of Nursing, Charlottesville, Virginia

JAMES S. ROBERTS, M.D., Senior Vice President,

Clinical Leadership, VHA, Inc., Irving, Texas

JAY H. SANDERS, M.D., Director of Telemedicine Center, Professor of Medicine and Surgery,

Medical College of Georgia, Augusta

JOHN C. SCOTT, M.S., President,

Center for Public Service Communications, Arlington, Virginia

JANE E. SISK, Ph.D., Professor,

Division of Health Policy and Management, Columbia University School of Public Health, New York

*  

Member, Institute of Medicine.

Suggested Citation:"FRONT MATTER." Institute of Medicine. 1996. Telemedicine: A Guide to Assessing Telecommunications for Health Care. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5296.
×

PAUL C. TANG, M.D., Associate Professor of Medicine, Northwestern University Medical School, and Medical Director,

Information Systems, Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Chicago

ERIC TANGALOS, M.D., Associate Professor of Medicine,

Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota

Technical Advisory Panel to the Committee

RASHID L. BASHSHUR, Ph.D., Professor,

Department of Health Management and Policy, School of Public Health, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

DOUGLAS D. BRADHAM, Dr.P.H.,** Associate Professor,

Bowman Gray School of Medicine, Department of Public Health Sciences, Section on Social Sciences and Health Policy, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, North Carolina

LINDA H. BRINK, Ph.D., Chair,

U.S. Department of Defense Testbed Telemedicine Evaluation Working Group, U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command, Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington, D.C.

JIM GRIGSBY, Ph.D., Associate Professor, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, and Senior Researcher,

Centers for Health Policy and Health Services Research, Denver

CAROLE L. MINTZER, M.P.A., Senior Finance Analyst,

Office of Rural Health Policy, Rockville, Maryland

DOUGLAS A. PEREDNIA, M.D., Director,

Telemedicine Research Center and Oregon State Health Sciences University Advanced Telemedicine Research Group, Portland

Study Staff

MARILYN J. FIELD, Ph.D., Study Director

KARLA R. SAUNDERS, Administrative Assistant

ELINOR C. GRAY, Research Assistant

**  

As of July 1996, Director, Section on Medical Outcomes and Policy Analysis, and Associate Professor, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Department of Medicine, Division of Gerontology, Baltimore, Maryland.

Suggested Citation:"FRONT MATTER." Institute of Medicine. 1996. Telemedicine: A Guide to Assessing Telecommunications for Health Care. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5296.
×

JERRARD R. SHEEHAN, Staff Liaison,

Computer Sciences and Telecommunications Board

KATHLEEN N. LOHR, Ph.D., Director,

Division of Health Care Services (through February 2, 1996)

CLYDE J. BEHNEY, Director,

Division of Health Care Services (after February 5, 1996)

NINA H. SPRUILL, Financial Associate

Suggested Citation:"FRONT MATTER." Institute of Medicine. 1996. Telemedicine: A Guide to Assessing Telecommunications for Health Care. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5296.
×
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Suggested Citation:"FRONT MATTER." Institute of Medicine. 1996. Telemedicine: A Guide to Assessing Telecommunications for Health Care. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5296.
×

Acknowledgments

Many individuals and groups assisted the study committee and staff in the development of this report. We particularly benefited from the experience and wisdom of the Technical Advisory Panel (listed after the committee), both as a group and as individuals.

A number of those involved with the federal Joint Working Group on Telemedicine provided information and advice throughout the project. Dena Puskin, Sc.D., chair of the working group and Deputy Director of the Office of Rural Health Policy, was unfailingly helpful with her time and insights. Linda Brink, Ph.D., Chair of the Department of Defense Telemedicine Evaluation Working Group, contributed generously from her evaluation experience. She also arranged an on-site visit to the telemedicine center at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and provided periodic updates on the military's development of evaluation tools and processes.

Michael Ackerman, Ph.D., was a pleasure to work with, both as project officer for this study for the National Library of Medicine (NLM) and as a participant in many key information infrastructure activities. Donald Lindberg, M.D., Director of the NLM and Betsy Humphreys, M.L.S., Deputy Associate Director of NLM Library Operations provided important direction early in planning the study. William England, Ph.D., the project officer from the Health Care Financing Administration, was also very helpful. From the early

Page viii Cite
Suggested Citation:"FRONT MATTER." Institute of Medicine. 1996. Telemedicine: A Guide to Assessing Telecommunications for Health Care. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5296.
×

days of the study, Colonel Joan Zajtchuk and Brigadier General Russ Zajtchuk of the U.S. Army provided information and other assistance, including invitations to several military telemedicine meetings.

Committee members and staff met with representatives of many organizations and visited several telemedicine projects. Joseph Gitlin, D.P.H., graciously helped to organize our visit to the University of Maryland Medical System and the Baltimore Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC). (He also worked with Melvyn Greberman, a committee member, to arrange discussions with participants at annual meetings of the Radiological Society of North America and the Society for Computer Applications in Radiology.) In Baltimore, we especially appreciated the time Eliot Siegel, M.D., of the VAMC spent with us, providing a very helpful review of their decision to adopt filmless radiology and their internal assessments of the effects on productivity. Richard Alcorta, M.D., and Gene Bidun of the Maryland Institute of Emergency Medical Services System gave us an overview and tour of the organization's headquarters. Deborah Finkelsen, Stephen Schimpff, M.D., Colin MacKenzie, M.D., and Robert Allman, M.D., of the University of Maryland contributed to our education about their activities.

Douglas Perednia, M.D., arranged for the committee to hear from him, Dan Filiburti, Nancy Brown, M.L.S., Tamara Hayes, Ph.D., Jim Wallace, and others about the activities of the Telemedicine Research Center and the research being undertaken at Oregon Health Sciences University. He also arranged for a "televisit" with Catherine Britain of RODEO NET, which provided an unplanned opportunity to experience some of the technical problems that can complicate interactive audio-video conferencing. Peter Kohler, M.D. (a committee member), and Carol Reinmiller kindly enabled the committee to get a broader view of telemedicine in Oregon by arranging meetings with those involved with state telecommunications policy and with educational uses of telemedicine. Participants included Donald Girard, M.D., Paula McNeil, R.N., Lesley Hallick, Ph.D., James Walker, James Elert, John Saultz, M.D., Mark Dodson, Deana Molinari, R.N., M.S.N., and Hersch Crawford.

At the University of Washington, Tara Cannava, M.H.A., arranged a discussion with those evaluating the WAMI Rural Telemedicine Network including Gary Hart, M.D., Peter House, M.H.A.,

Suggested Citation:"FRONT MATTER." Institute of Medicine. 1996. Telemedicine: A Guide to Assessing Telecommunications for Health Care. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5296.
×

Mike Pirani, Ph.D., and Peter West, M.D. Alan Rowberg, M.D., demonstrated some of the technical and practical issues in integrating digital radiology with traditional film-based operations in radiology departments, emergency departments, and intensive care units.

Chris Barnard, M.D., Medical Director of the Stanford Telemedicine Program, showed us the medical center side of some of the University's telemedicine activities and also took us to two of their "remote" sites. Rodney Hawkins, M.P.A., Purna Prasad, M.S., Linda Cook, R.N., Rick Kong, Gerry Shebar provided insights into the strategic, business, engineering, and management aspects of their program. At the Lytton Gardens Health Care Center, we met with Vera Goupille, M.P.H., Peter Pompei, M.D., and Linda Hibbs, R.N., M.P.A. At Drew Health Foundation, we met with administrator Manfred Hayes, M.B.A., Dana Knoll, M.B.A., Bertha Price, L.V.N., and others. An attempt to arrange a video link with the San Jose Medical Group failed because severe storms disrupted telephone communication in the Bay Area, but this experience, again, was instructional.

William Goodall, M.D., of Allina Health System; Ed Hinman, M.D., of Total Health care; and John Santa, M.D., Joanne Zamorra, and Eric Livingston, all of Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Oregon talked with us about telemedicine in different kinds of managed care environments. Robert Thompson, M.D., invited staff to participate in a meeting of the American College of Radiology and National Electrical Manufacturers Association that illuminated some of the difficulties of building on and extending their experience in developing the DICOM standards for radiology.

Francoise Gilbert, J.D., of Altheimer & Gray, Chicago, and Leo J. Whelan, J.D., Legal Counsel, for Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, reviewed drafts of the policy chapter, which greatly benefited from their suggestions (although they bear no responsibility for any errors). In addition to helping draft a background paper for the committee, Neil Neuberger provided numerous information resources and contacts. Among others who were helpful in a variety of ways were Richard Bakalar, M.D., U.S. Navy; Roger Shannon, M.D., Veterans Health Administration; Gloria Jones of East Carolina University; Donna Farley, M.H.A., now of the Rand Organization; Suzanne Tichenor of the Council on Competitiveness; Alice Meyer at

Suggested Citation:"FRONT MATTER." Institute of Medicine. 1996. Telemedicine: A Guide to Assessing Telecommunications for Health Care. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5296.
×

md/tv; Barry Rome at VTEL; Sharon Cauchi of Telemedicine and Telehealth Networks; and Ace Allen, M.D., of Telemedicine Today.

Staff within the Institute of Medicine provided assistance in many different ways. Some of those we especially thank include Claudia Carl, Nina Spruill, Mary Lee Schneiders, Mike Edington, Donna Thompson, Richard Julian, and Molla Donaldson. At the Computer Sciences and Telecommunications Board of the National Research Council, first Louise Arnheim and then Jerry Sheehan were the staff liaisons for this project.

Suggested Citation:"FRONT MATTER." Institute of Medicine. 1996. Telemedicine: A Guide to Assessing Telecommunications for Health Care. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5296.
×
Suggested Citation:"FRONT MATTER." Institute of Medicine. 1996. Telemedicine: A Guide to Assessing Telecommunications for Health Care. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5296.
×
Page xiii Cite
Suggested Citation:"FRONT MATTER." Institute of Medicine. 1996. Telemedicine: A Guide to Assessing Telecommunications for Health Care. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5296.
×

Tables, Figures, And Boxes

Tables

1.1

 

Categories and Examples of Telemedicine Applications

 

29

1.2

 

Dimensions, Subdimensions, and Examples of Patient Care Relevant to Telemedicine Applications

 

31

3.1

 

Types of Telemedicine Service Providers, Related Services, and Other Resources

 

57

3.2

 

Key Information Technologies for Health Care

 

60

4.1

 

Categorization of 28 State Telemedicine Programs in 1995 with Examples

 

88

7.1

 

Categories of Evaluation Questions for Comparing Telemedicine to Alternative Health Services

 

164

7.2

 

Evaluating Quality of Care and Health Outcomes

 

169

7.3

 

Evaluating Access to Care

 

177

7.4

 

Evaluating Health Care Costs and Cost-Effectiveness

 

185

7.5

 

Evaluating Patient Perceptions

 

189

7.6

 

Evaluating Clinician Perceptions

 

190

7.7

 

Desirable Attributes of Evaluation Criteria

 

191

Suggested Citation:"FRONT MATTER." Institute of Medicine. 1996. Telemedicine: A Guide to Assessing Telecommunications for Health Care. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5296.
×

Figures

2.1

 

Telemedicine circa 1924

 

37

2.2

 

Telemedicine work station

 

50

2.3

 

Telemedicine consultation from the patient's perspective

 

51

3.1

 

Schematic representation of the telemedicine center at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, and the satellite Naval Medical Clinic in Annapolis, Maryland

 

62

3.2

 

Relationship between the complexity of telemedicine applications and bandwidth requirements

 

64

3.3

 

Messaging standards for electronic exchange of different kinds of hospital medical information

 

70

Boxes

S.1

 

Elements of an Evaluation Plan

 

6

S.2

 

Categories of Evaluation Questions for Comparing Telemedicine to Alternative Health Services

 

9

3.1

 

Human Factors, Telemedicine, and the Telephone Analogy

 

77

6.1

 

Threats to the Internal Validity of Evaluations

 

158

8.1

 

Elements of an Evaluation Plan

 

203

8.2

 

Categories of Evaluation Questions for Comparing Telemedicine to Alternative Health Services

 

206

Suggested Citation:"FRONT MATTER." Institute of Medicine. 1996. Telemedicine: A Guide to Assessing Telecommunications for Health Care. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5296.
×

Telemedicine

Suggested Citation:"FRONT MATTER." Institute of Medicine. 1996. Telemedicine: A Guide to Assessing Telecommunications for Health Care. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/5296.
×
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Telemedicine—the use of information and telecommunications technologies to provide and support health care when distance separates the participants—is receiving increasing attention not only in remote areas where health care access is troublesome but also in urban and suburban locations.

Yet the benefits and costs of this blend of medicine and digital technologies must be better demonstrated before today's cautious decision-makers invest significant funds in its development.

Telemedicine presents a framework for evaluating patient care applications of telemedicine. The book identifies managerial, technical, policy, legal, and human factors that must be taken into account in evaluating a telemedicine program. The committee reviews previous efforts to establish evaluation frameworks and reports on results from several completed studies of image transmission, consulting from remote locations, and other telemedicine programs.

The committee also examines basic elements of an evaluation and considers relevant issues of quality, accessibility, and cost of health care.

Telemedicine will be of immediate interest to anyone with interest in the clinical application of telemedicine.

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