TY - JOUR T1 - Telemedicine: is it really worth it? A perspective from evidence and experience JF - BMJ Health & Care Informatics SP - 14 LP - 18 DO - 10.14236/jhi.v25i1.957 VL - 25 IS - 1 AU - James Freed AU - Charles Lowe AU - Gerd Flodgren AU - Rachel Binks AU - Kevin Doughty AU - Jyrki Kolsi Y1 - 2018/01/01 UR - http://informatics.bmj.com/content/25/1/14.abstract N2 - Background This paper summarises a series of presentations on telemedicine given at a UK eHealth Week conference session in 2016. The formal evidence base for telemedicine is equivocal, but practical experience suggests that implementations of technology that support telemedicine initiatives can result in improved patient outcomes, better patient and carer experience and reduced expenditure.Objective To answer the questions ‘Is an investment in telemedicine worth it’? and ‘How do I make a telemedicine implementation work’?Methods Summary of systematic review evidence and an illustrative case study. Discussion of implications for industry and policy.Results Realisation of telemedicine benefits is much less to do with the technology itself and much more around the context of the implementing organisation and its ability to implement.Conclusion We recommend that local organisations consider deployment of telemedicine initiatives but with a greater awareness of the growing body of implementation best practice. We also recommend, for the National Health Service, that the centre takes a greater role in the collation and dissemination of best practice to support successful implementations of telemedicine and other health informatics initiatives. ER -