Infectious Diseases Society of America Position Statement on Telehealth and Telemedicine as Applied to the Practice of Infectious Diseases

Clin Infect Dis. 2017 Feb 1;64(3):237-242. doi: 10.1093/cid/ciw773.

Abstract

The use of telehealth and telemedicine offers powerful tools for delivering clinical care, conducting medical research, and enhancing access to infectious diseases physicians. The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) has prepared a position statement to educate members on the use of telehealth and telemedicine technologies. The development of telehealth and telemedicine programs requires the consideration of several issues such as HIPAA, state and local licensure requirements, credentialing and privileging, scope of care, quality, and responsibility and liability. IDSA supports appropriate use of telehealth and telemedicine to provide timely, cost-effective specialty care to resource-limited populations.

Keywords: antimicrobial stewardship; infectious diseases; store-and-forward.; telehealth; telemedicine.

MeSH terms

  • Communicable Diseases* / diagnosis
  • Communicable Diseases* / therapy
  • Confidentiality
  • Cost Savings
  • Documentation
  • Education, Medical, Continuing / methods
  • Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
  • Humans
  • Liability, Legal
  • Licensure
  • Privacy
  • Public Policy
  • Quality of Health Care
  • Societies, Medical
  • Telemedicine / economics
  • Telemedicine / legislation & jurisprudence
  • Telemedicine / organization & administration
  • Telemedicine / statistics & numerical data*
  • United States