Literature Review

There is a recognized need for national standards for healthcare professionals and guidelines for the accreditation of healthcare organizations and facilities that provide telehealth services. This lack of standards and guidelines has been considered to be a barrier to the successful integration of telehealth into healthcare facilities. Standards are requirements that an organization must meet in order to earn accreditation and are important, because they provide a benchmark for measuring quality. At present, there are no existing Canadian telehealth accreditation standards. A variety of policies and guidelines were found in the literature review. Although many published papers, reports, and documents were reviewed, few provided insight into organizational policies, standards, or guidelines with respect to the provision of telehealth services nationally or internationally. The majority of the documents reviewed on the subject of organizational policies, guidelines, and standards for telehealth and telemedicine tended to focus on technical aspects. Standards need to be established for the administrative management of telehealth services. In addition, national standards need to be established for the management of privacy, confidentiality, and security, as well as for the documentation of policies and procedures.

The Advisory Committee on Health Infostructure (2001) asserted that several ingredients must be in place if the national health infostructure is to be implemented in an effective manner, including strong leadership; a clear and comprehensive strategy and detailed plan; and a common understanding of federal, provincial, and territorial initiatives. Jennett and Andruchuk (2001) stated that the successful implementation of telehealth services in Canada depends on several key factors: (1) the readiness of the environment; (2) systematic needs analyses, strategic business plans, and diverse, collaborative partnerships; (3) adequate equipment and IT vendors; (4) staged implementation; and (5) evaluation. Jennett and Siedlecki (2001), in a paper looking at the issue of policy development in telehealth, concluded the following: