Rural and remote communities typically share a number of attributes, including long distances to urban centres, a smaller and dispersed population, limited availability of local services, and barriers to accessing services in larger urban settings. Physicians practicing in these communities provide a full range of primary and acute care services, including: office practice, emergency care, on-call availability, outreach, home visits, and telehealth. Telehealth has been identified by our members as a way to enhance primary care capacity and to support longitudinal care for patients in our rural and remote communities.
In the coming year, the Division plans to work with its partners to explore telehealth strategies that address the challenges that rural and remote communities experience. In particular, the Division will focus on the expansion of telehealth to support patients living with chronic diseases and mental illness and substance abuse, and to enhance access to specialists and acute care services in remote areas.
Telehealth Guiding Principles - July 2016
For the purposes of this document, the following definition is being used for Telehealth/Telemedicine/Virtual Care:
“Telemedicine is the use of medical information exchanged from one site to another via electronic communications to improve a patient’s clinical health status. Telemedicine includes a growing variety of applications and services using two-way video, email, smart phones, wireless tools and other forms of telecommunications technology." (The American Telemedicine Association).
For full document, please click here --->