Telemedicine: challenges and opportunities

Telemedicine is many things to many people. Only until a few years ago, telemedicine was equated to video teleconferencing between physicians, while nowadays, perhaps the most active area in telemedicine is the store-and-forward model. There is a big shift from private and dedicated modes of communications to connectivity through the Internet. Presented is a collection of applications that provide snapshots of this diversity. The key technical challenges identified from these experiences are connectivity and integration. Also, at issue are the evolution process through which a telemedicine application evolves and the ability to choose the right set of technology for the diverse type of telemedicine applications. With the projected improvements in speed and quality of the Internet, wireless communication, and personal computational devices, it is expected that various concepts of telemedicine will develop into standard practices in tomorrow’s health care. Sang-goo Lee received his Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in computer science from Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, in 1987 and 1990, respectively. He was a Research Engineer at EDS Research and Development, Troy, MI, and is currently an Associate Professor at the School of Computer Science and Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea. This work was conducted while he was a Visiting Research Scholar at the Imaging Science and Information Systems Center, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC, between 1999 and 2000. His research areas are database systems, digital libraries, and medical informatics. Seong K. Mun received his Ph.D. degree in 1979 from State University of New York, Albany, NY. He is the Director of the Imaging Science and Information Systems (ISIS) Center, Department of Radiology, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC. He is also the Director of Special Initiatives and Director of Medical Informatics for the Georgetown University Medical Center. He has founded the International Conference on Image Management and Communication System and has served as chair and member of numerous committees of national and international organizations on medical imaging, medical informatics, and telemedicine. Prakash Jha received his M.D. in India from University of Rajasthan in 1989. After his residency in Pathology from University of Manitoba, Canada, in 1996, he completed his Masters in Public Health from George Washington University, Washington, DC. Dr. Jha was Quality Improvement Coordinator at George Washington University Health Plan. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Radiology and Clinical Director of ISIS at Georgetown University, Washington, DC. His areas of interest include preventive health, outcomes based disease management, and medical informatics. 1Currently on leave from School of Computer Science and Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul, South Korea. 0926-6801/00/$8.00  2000 – IOS Press. All rights reserved 16 S.-g. Lee et al. / Telemedicine: challenges and opportunities Betty A. Levine (M ’96) has been with the Imaging Scence and Information Systems (ISIS) Center, Department of Radiology, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington DC, since 1987. Ms. Levine currently manages many of the telemedicine projects within the ISIS Center. She is currently directing a web based Telemedicine for Chronic Illness project. Her other areas of expertise include digital imaging networks, systems integration, and information and imaging systems interfaces. She has designed and developed many interfaces that utilize the ACR-NEMA, DICOM 3.0, and HL-7 standards. She is one of two senior engineers responsible for the design, development, implementation, and installation of the Deployable Radiology (DEPRAD) network in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Hungary, and Germany. Duk-Woo Ro received the M.S.E. and Ph.D. degrees in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, in 1987 and 1990, respectively. He is currently an Associate Professor of Radiology at Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC. Prior to joining Georgetown University, Dr. Ro served as the PACS Director of Samsung Medical Center, Seoul, Korea, and as a Research Assistant Professor at the Korea Academy of Industrial Technology, Seoul, Korea. His research areas include PACS, image management, and global health management.