Developing a successful telemedicine program

The California Telemedicine & eHealth Center (CTEC) is a leader in improving access to healthcare in underserved areas of the state through the optimization of telehealth and telemedicine programs. As a federally designated Telehealth Resource Center, CTEC is committed to this optimization by serving the rapidly expanding telemedicine community by developing new strategies, resources, and providing technical assistance. In the next three to five years, it is estimated that over 500 new program sites will be developed in California. There is a resulting need for strategic and coordinated plans to ensure that these upcoming programs have access to tools that will help ensure their success and sustainability. CTEC has more than 10 years of experience in assisting and guiding developing programs. Through this experience, CTEC has identified program success markers. These indicators identify and apply proven success criteria in telemedicine program planning and development. This model gives funders the ability to evaluate grant requests based on proven success criteria, and it assures that success criteria are built into program proposals. The outcome of this framework is the replication of successfully implemented telemedicine programs and better allocation of limited funding resources. Not only does this approach provide clear information to proposal evaluators to assist in selecting programs with the best potential for success, it also helps build a business case for telemedicine, and ensures that programs have the organizational support necessary to implement a sustainable telemedicine program.