title: Implementation and evaluation of telehealth tools and technologies.
abstract: In June 2009, the National Center for Research Resources (NCRR), National Institutes of Health (NIH), convened a conference of experts to discuss future directions for research in addressing healthcare disparities through the use of telehealth technologies. As part of this conference, a panel was convened to review the status of current efforts to assess, implement, and evaluate telehealth technologies, and to recommend future directions for research. The panel members provided a series of practical recommendations to those who are contemplating establishing a telehealth service, as well as recommendations to the NIH on future funding for telehealth research. The recommendations to the NIH focused on three broad areas of concern: (1) technology assessment, (2) evaluation, and (3) technical assistance, education, and dissemination. The panel members emphasized the need for NIH to support research in areas that have been seriously underfunded in the past, including but not limited to primary care research, multisite collaborative telehealth studies, nonphysician telehealth services, and methodological development to develop a "gold standard" for telehealth studies.
authors.affiliation: Office for Advancement of Telehealth, Health Resources and Services Administration, Rockville, Maryland 20857, USA. dpuskin@hrsa.gov
authors.forename: Dena S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Puskin
authors.forename: Zohara
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Cohen
authors.forename: A Stewart
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Ferguson
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Krupinski
authors.forename: Ryan
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Spaulding
mesh_terms: D001292:Attitude to Computers; D006801:Humans; D007256:Information Systems / Q000458:organization & administration*; D009316:National Institutes of Health (U.S.); D015397:Program Evaluation; D018511:Systems Integration; D013673:Technology Assessment, Biomedical / Q000458:organization & administration*; D017216:Telemedicine / Q000458:organization & administration*; D014481:United States; D014584:User-Computer Interface