Planning Successful Telemedicine and E-Health Systems

Abstract

Telemedicine and e-health applications have the potential to improve healthcare organizations’ ability to provide advanced services in a cost-effective manner. Given the failure rate of information technology projects in general (25%), successfully launching a new telemedicine or e-health system can be a daunting prospect–especially for organizations without experience with these new technologies. This chapter provides examples of important aspects of pre-project planning that can help set the stage for success in implementing new telemedicine and e-health applications; importantly, the lessons provided in this chapter are provided by discussing both systems that have achieved success and others that have faced significant difficulties. Key points discussed include: the benefits of involving important stakeholders and users in the planning process, effectively contracting with external technology vendors, and successfully managing expectations. Improved pre-project planning can contribute substantially to the eventual project outcome, so this is a step that cannot be overlooked.