Introduction to Telehealth
Two weeks ago I sent out a message through a few social networks that we use here at Softworks, Twitter, Facebook, and my LinkedIn profile, that I was working on a primer on the topic of telehealth. I have been interested in this topic for some time now, and over the course of my exposure to it I have come to learn that there is as much misunderstanding about what it is as there is understanding about what it is. I figured that I could do our blog readers a service by condensing the topic and presenting it in an easy to understand format.
As a result of the conversations that followed my announcement on the social network, I felt it was important to really bring some clarity to the whole topic. I set about and for four hours over the next couple of days wrote my “primer”, complete with a chart (you know, because charts are an easy way to explain complex information!) and sent it to a friend of mine for her to look over before I posted it. Her response was “This isn’t a primer. It is a dissertation.” Point taken.
While the writing really was far from a dissertation, her point was that it was also far from a primer, as well. It was too long and chased way too many rabbit trails, resulting in 7 pages of disorienting facts, arguments, and viewpoints. A primer is supposed to be an elementary introduction, not a graduate lecture. My takeaway was that while the entirety of telehealth can be expansive, the core of it really is very simple, and here it is:
Telehealth is any health-related information or care that is administered over long distance. In today’s health care system, this would normally entail the use of some form of communication technology such as the telephone, email, or chat.
So there it is, the big explanation of what telehealth is. Don’t get me wrong, those of us that work in health care understand well that our system of health care can complicate anything, and telehealth is no different. Terms, definitions, nuances, approaches, and uses of telehealth can turn a simple blog post into a dissertation (I know from experience), but I will save those discussions for their own post. Hopefully I can break them down and explore them on here with readers in separate posts that will make more sense of them.
But for now, simplicity will rule the day.
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Softworks is a healthcare IT company solving security, compliance, infrastructure and management concerns for medical practices and small hospitals. Our goal is to serve our clients by using technology in a way that will help them become more proficient in their business and more effective in the care of their patients. 
