Telemedicine and Telehealth: Principles, Policies, Performance and Pitfalls [Hardcover]

Adam Darkins (Author), Margaret Cary (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 15, 2000 | ISBN-10: 0826113028 | ISBN-13: 978-0826113023 | Edition: 1

Telemedicine and telehealth are changing the face of health care delivery and becoming a multi-billion dollar industry. Dr. Darkins and Dr. Cary share their knowledge and provide practical insights and advice on making telemedicine programs into successful clinical services and a productive business. The book gives background knowledge and useful tips on starting up and managing programs in an array of settings. Most importantly, the book is based on the recognition that patients are customers of health care and telemedicine companies developing new products vital to delivering care to rural or inaccessible clients is vital to health care's future.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Adam William Darkins, MD, MPH, FRCS, trained as a neurosurgeon in Britain. His clinical background gives him a detailed understanding of the clinical process and the practical difficulties of delivering specialist health care services. During 4 years spent as the medical director at Riverside Community Health Care in London, he implemented telehealth services in the context of contracting to transfer health care services from secondary and tertiary care into primary care. This work directly led to his later use of patient-based clinical information systems to support the brokering of telehealth transactions. He served as a founding member on the board of a national medical directors' organization and worked on major areas of clinical-change management that affect new health care developments. These clinical organizational-change, and business-development skills underpin his capacity to implement successful telehealth programs. He has written and spoken extensively on telehealth and how it fits with future visions of health care delivery systems that are equitable and sustainable. He helped found the Royal Society of Medicine's Telemedicine Forum and cofounded Global Telemed Ltd. This Northern Ireland-based telehealth company gave him his expertise in defining the new business models on which the future commercial provision of telehealth services are now being based. In addition to his clinical and management experience Adam Darkins has worked directly on patient issues. In the early 1990s he directed a joint project between the King's Fund in London and the Foundation for Informed Medical Decision Making in Hanover, New Hampshire, giving information to patients on treatment choices. He is a past council member of the Patients Association, a national UK patient-advocacy organization. Adam Darkins now lives and works in the United States, where he directs a major telehealth program.

Margaret Ann Cary, MD, MBA, MPH, is a US-trained family physician. Her extensive clinical experience includes practicing in Northern California and Colorado, and directing an emergency room in a remote ski resort. Her extensive knowledge of primary care gives her a familiarity with the challenges of delivering health care far from specialist expertise and of the need to obtain acute health care advice. She moved into medical management after she successfully turned a failing health care facility into a commercial success and her entrepreneurial abilities were recognized. She was an early exponent of the use of telemedicine in primary care situations. Realizing her clinical, managerial, and physician-leadership roles in the state, the Governor of Colorado appointed her to the State Board of Medical Examiners. She served on this Board, the licensing and disciplining agency that regulates physician practice, from 1988 to 1994. This experience gave her firsthand knowledge of the general legal and regulatory framework that underlies the practice of medicine and how this directly impacts the development of telemedicine in the United States. Margaret Cary was actively involved in establishing Denver's World Trade Center at a time when Denver was emerging as a major global center for telecommunications. This work forms the basis for her understanding of the importance of partnerships with telecommunications suppliers in the telephone and cable industries for the future digital delivery of health care services.

Dr. Cary formalized her management education at the University of Colorado where she graduated as the Outstanding MBA Graduate of her year. Subsequently she established a health care communications company with areas of interest that have included physician training, leadership development, and the independent production of health care television programs.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 316 pages
• Publisher: Springer Publishing Company; 1 edition (March 15, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0826113028
• ISBN-13: 978-0826113023
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #334,738 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #97 in Books > Medical Books > Dentistry > Preventive

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Telemedicine and Telehealth is Now!, October 2, 2000

By 

E J Guerrero Jr, MD, MPA (NY, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Telemedicine and Telehealth: Principles, Policies, Performance and Pitfalls (Hardcover)

As a practicing physician with a keen interest in information technologies and their applications in healthcare, I always approach books like this with some bemusement. In turn, I was pleasantly surprised by my delight with this book. To succeed in the charge to bridge the digital divide and to eliminate health disparities, we physicians and managers will have to arm ourselves with timely solutions which are informed by experience and science. Coupled with the practical and the "how to" make "Telemedicine and Telehealth" a valuable resource for anyone interested in creating the future healthcare system. It connects and transcends the important elements and issues rather than just regurgitating the problems we've heard over and over again. If you believe, as I do, that the future of healthcare will be greatly enhanced by the new information technologies, this book helps to put the present and future in perspective. Darkins and Cary absolutely succeed!

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Telemedicine demystified, May 22, 2000

By 

Thomas J Beckett (Denver, Colorado USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Telemedicine and Telehealth: Principles, Policies, Performance and Pitfalls (Hardcover)

If telemedicine and telehealth are the next steps on the ladder to achieving comprehensive management of disease -- and beyond that, population wellness -- then this book is the rung that will help physicians,their patients, and policymakers get a leg up. Darkins and Cary painstakingly weed through the often murky, often contradictory terminology of telemedicine to clearly define what everyone wants from this burgeoning aspect of health care, and they do so with insight and precision. Particularly helpful are the chapters outlining in detail how the health care provider can incorporate telemedicine into clinical practice. The pointed references to enhanced patient-physician communication made possible by telehealth drive home how crucial this aspect of health care remains to all parties involved. In what continues to be a time of dizzying tehcnological change, "Telemedicine and Telehealth" offers an opportunity to take a step back from the chaos and look crtically at the possibilities before we forge ahead.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Comprehensive, useful for novices and specialists, October 12, 2000

By 

Svetlana Cary (Boulder, CO USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Telemedicine and Telehealth: Principles, Policies, Performance and Pitfalls (Hardcover)

As a software developer and member of the American Telemedicine Association, I found this book to be a very valuable reference. Our company is developing software solutions to allow patients and health care providers easy, secure access to medical information. This book has helped us understand how telemedicine is developing and how it will be used, so that we can see the developing niches for our products. This book provides the larger view of this developing field and gives readers inspiration to enter the exciting field.