Can Telehealth's Benefits Outweigh Its Challenges?

By Vicki Amendola, Editor, Health IT Outcomes

A study performed by Intel in 2010 stated that clinical decision makers felt that the adoption of technology in general, and telehealth specifically, could cut costs and provide better patient outcomes. In fact, the study found that 89% of those decision makers believed that telehealth could actually transform healthcare delivery over the course of the next decade. In another recent report, this one by research firm Datamonitor, the market for telehealth and home health monitoring is predicted to grow from $3B in 2009 to an estimated $7.7B by 2012. With results like this floating around, it's not surprising that telehealth hit the charts on our own Top 10 Healthcare IT Trends list in both 2011 and 2012. But the telehealth trend seemingly has lost a little momentum, dropping from #5 in 2011 to #10 in 2012. So what is the status of telehealth today? Why does it remain on the list at all, and what stands in its way?