Abstract
Introduction: The use of telehealth has demonstrated its benefits with enhanced access to health care services, often called virtual healthcare. Despite the potential value, there remain many challenges in achieving more universal adoption, effective utilization, and addressing inequities. If virtual healthcare, telemedicine, and digital health can offer a transformation in enhancing access to health care services and have demonstrated improvements in outcomes, what are the barriers that need to be addressed and, if possible, resolved or avoided?
Approach: Many challenges are reviewed in achieving adoption and sustained utilization of telemedicine services and virtual health care, along with potential solutions to overcome or avoid those barriers in order to better ensure more successful implementation and sustainability as part of overall health care.
Results: The review outlines the major challenges, obstacles and barriers to implementing and sustaining telehealth and virtual healthcare along with several solutions that can be applied. These challenges fall into these general categories: 1) Technical, 2) Workforce, 3) Administrative Governance, 4) Financial, and 5) Political, Social, and Cultural - all of which can impact equitable access to the true value of virtual healthcare and can be addressed when developing and implementing a telemedicine virtual healthcare program.
Conclusion: By addressing known challenges early in the process of integration of virtual healthcare, and as part of continued quality improvement, successful implementation and sustainability are more likely to be achieved, providing more pervasive global adoption and effective utilization, overcoming inequities to access, and enhancing the health and wellness of all patients being served.