What constitutes success in telehealth?

Abstract

Before telehealth applications can be judged, there must be some general understanding about what constitutes success. At first sight it seems that defining success in a telehealth application should be relatively easy: a successful application is one that produces high-quality care at low cost. However, the calculation of cost requires some care, since it depends on assuming a particular financial perspective (the patient's, the health-careprovider's, or society's) and is meaningless without a statement of the workload being handled. Other factors include the context in which the service is being delivered. Ultimately, the political imperative may override any rational judgement of success.