TELEHEALTH: AN UNAVOIDABLE FUTURE?

Diana Raquel de Brito Viana Andrade | CIDEEFF Working Papers nº 15

Working Papers

The world has changed with the COVID-19 pandemic. We have undoubtedly felt its impact on various aspects of our lives, but there is one that stands out: the physical distancing we have been forced to fulfil. With this distancing came a new labour paradigm, which was necessarily linked to the adoption of tools that could help implement remote working.

As far as healthcare is concerned, an area in which physical contact is traditionally favoured and in which the exchange of sensitive information is often present, the COVID-19 pandemic has catapulted the move towards new digital models of healthcare provision, revolutionizing the usual paradigms of doctor-patient interaction.

This encounter between the virtual and the real, using technology to our advantage, could be the key to overcoming some of the waste sometimes associated with healthcare organizations. However, there are additional constraints that are triggered by telehealth.

In this working paper, the author looks at European and national health policies, focusing on the theme of telehealth, its challenges, implementation and constraints.