Chapter 1

General Information for Evaluating Telehealth Technologies

1. You should thoroughly research the need for a specific application (e.g., dermatology) to predict the utilization you expect to obtain from that application.
2. You should use these guidelines as part of that research to understand the various types of equipment being used by existing telehealth programs serving the desired application.
3. You should work with the various telecommunication carriers in your proposed network to ensure that the type of equipment you desire will integrate with the communication services available. For example before purchasing equipment that requires ISDN service you need to confirm with the telecommunication companies that ISDN services are available within your network.
4. When buying equipment components separately (i.e., monitors, videoconferencing equipment, cameras, etc) the video and audio inputs/outputs from the CODEC must match the peripheral device to which it will connect and vice versa.
5. It is strongly recommended that each telehealth room from which the patient will be seen have access to a secure FAX machine.
6. It is strongly recommended that each telehealth room used by the care provider (e.g., typically the specialist’s site) be equipped with a FAX machine so that information (e.g., Rx Scripts, test results) can be FAXed to the patient’s location.
7. It is strongly recommended that the network be designed so that remote diagnostics of the equipment can be performed.