Telemedicine in Norway : status and the road ahead / Terje Blomberg [and others].

  • Norway. Sosial- og Helsedepartementet.
Date:
1999
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Licence: In copyright

Credit: Telemedicine in Norway : status and the road ahead / Terje Blomberg [and others]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Northern Health Care Region should function as a shop window for the operation of telemedical solutions within a broad perspective that takes account of people, organisational structure and technology. A comprehensive approach of this kind involving the tight integration of technology, interfaces, organisations and users will be conditional upon the existence of a highly developed and active user environment within the region. 2 The background to the establishment of the working party At present electronic communication requirements are for the most part met by establishing and organising dedicated communications links for each individual function. This is not efficient in terms of cost or expertise. New technology is now increasingly opening the way for communications requirements to be met by means of common, uniform information networks with integrated services. Quality, security and capacity are keywords in this development. Service integration and high capacity networks are for the present, and viewed in isolation, relatively cost-intensive technologies. Developments in markets and prices and the increasing use by health care regions of communications services suggest that the time is now ripe for a common, service-integrated network for the health care regions to be established. The next stage should be the establishment of a nationwide network. In this context it is important to stress that the organisational challenges are greater than the technological challenges. The efficient use of common information networks requires a high degree of coordination of various needs, measures and projects as well as shared organisational structures. So far we have merely glimpsed the outlines of future developments. We have relatively little experience of telemedicine as a method of treatment. At the same time this approach offers great potential and a strategic and purposeful effort within this field is called for. It has therefore been necessary to sum up the present situation and to attempt to give recommendations for the future. These are the themes of this working party report. 2.1 The mandate and composition of the working party The mandate of the working party as formulated in the letter of invitation from the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs dated 17 September 1998 1 has been as follows: The working party will advise the Ministry in the work on assessing the medical, health- economic and commercial aspects of telemedicine. The following points will be considered by the working party: - The medical utility of telemedicine within various disciplines. - The health-economic and socio-economic aspects of telemedicine with the emphasis on the relationship between telemedical and conventional solutions. - When is it efficient to choose telemedicine given both the medical and the health economic assessments ? - The potential commercial and industrial gains to be derived from increasing investment in telemedicine. - The consequences for district policy of increased use of telemedicine. It has been important that the composition of the working party be both multi-regional and multi-disciplinary. The working party has therefore been relatively large and comprised the following persons: