The American Telemedicine Association Global Forum on Telemedicine: Connecting the World through Partnerships was held in September 2007. The forum presented the “International Roadmap for Action” including recommendations for improving health and healthcare delivery through telemedicine and information technology.
The goal of the forum was to bring together key stakeholders interested in global healthcare outreach to explore a flexible framework and develop sustainable business models. This will make it possible to leverage telemedicine and information technology to extend outreach efforts.
The document is going to be used to start a dialogue to explore the ways that the telemedicine community can work to improve global disparity in healthcare. The recommendations will be presented to governmental and non-governmental organizations for comments and further development.
The recommendations fall into six categories:
- Continue the dialogue to create the telemedicine framework for multiple stakeholders
- Provide stakeholders with ways to identify and leverage existing resources
- Educate grantors on the value of telemedicine in order to expand medical outreach and training programs
- Work to align international policy to support the integration of telemedicine into country plans and to support cross country partnerships
- Develop the communication infrastructure
Integrate telemedicine programs for disaster relief
To see the complete report, go to www.federaltelemedicine.com/globalforum.html . An article will be published shortly on the subject in the “Telemedicine and eHealth Journal.”
