Telemedicine: determining "critical to quality" characteristics for a healthcare service system design based on a survey of physical rehabilitation providers

Purpose: This study examines the key attributes of telemedicine from the healthcare provider's perspective and to show how telemedicine may impact healthcare service delivery. Methodology: The study was based on a review of current telemedicine/ telehealth research and the analysis of data from a survey of healthcare professionals/providers in the physical rehabilitation sector. Using a six-sigma process development approach that identified "critical-to-quality" characteristics, the study identified specific telemedicine characteristics that healthcare service providers in the physical rehabilitation sector saw as being useful and essential. Findings: Empirical data from the survey indicated the application of telemedicine technologies can assist in making the delivery of healthcare services more efficient while maintaining the same high quality of service. Contribution: This study aided in determining what specific functions and capabilities healthcare providers would prefer to see in a telemedicine enabled service system design to achieve improved cost and time savings for both the patient and the provider. In view of the specialized area from which the data was obtained, healthcare providers were interested in viewing their patients in real time, communicating with them, and gathering relevant vital signs and treatment data meant for use in emergency and daily routine notifications and consultations.