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Telehealth--A Change in a Practice Model in Oncology
Telemedicine and e-Health, 05/08/2012
Weinerman BH et al. – The introduction of oncology telehealth in British Columbia Cancer Agency's Vancouver Island Centre (BCCAVIC)/Vancouver Island Health Authority was in an ethics–approved study. Following the completion of the trial, there was a 10–fold increase in follow–up patients seen using this modality. Reluctance to see new patients through telehealth probably relates to the necessity to change the patient encounter paradigm. There is a need to develop a model where patients who are a distance from specialists concentrated in larger centers have reasonable access to the same standard of care, without incurring the time and financial burdens. Telehealth would be a part of that model.
