Technology and Healthcare Demographics of the global community are rapidly changing so that each year there are more and more seniors within the population base. This has a profound implication on the healthcare system of many regions since a large number of elderly citizens will be spending their lives in the confines of their home, and some may have chronic illness that require continuous monitoring. Clinical telemedicine is one way to offer greater services to rural or homebound populations. Indeed, a variety of technological advances have made it possible to change the paradigm of healthcare. Clinical information systems, for instance, have expanded in scope and depth. Increased processor speeds and data storage devices have made it possible to collect more data than ever on the detailed encounters that make up the provider-patient care delivery process, and present it more effectively to a wider range of users. Healthcare monitoring is part of the technical relationship of telemedicine, which is the use of electronic information and communication technology to provide and support distance-based healthcare. The physician or monitoring organization can perform interventions, diagnostic, and treatment decisions from the data they receive, and is particularly useful in populations of aging individuals or those in areas not necessarily near a healthcare facility. In telemedicine, two participants are involved, the caregivers and patients with four common uses: 1) Teleassistance -- Physician assists a patient who is geographically isolated; 2) Telemonitoring -- Transmission of

They believe that the initial costs are higher (but in comparison to what?), that the effectiveness of telemedicine depends on the type of disease and is unproven longitudinally and finally, that it requires a certain buy-in from physicians who may, or may not wish to participate. Certainly, like with all technologies, there is a learning curve for both healthcare personnel and patients. Everyone involved must get used to a new form of information management. However, e-mail and the Internet were once new, and familiarity and training are not reasons to halt adopting new technologies that have the potential to save lives (Hatcher and Heetebry, 2004).
Part 3 - the majority of both patients and caregivers surveyed find that it is not only important to implement telemedicine, but almost necessary in some areas. For them: 1) Patients want to improve the quality of their live; 2) Telemedicine improves autonomy of a patient and gives them greater access to healthcare; 3) Physicians and healthcare professionals want to improve quality of care without extending costs; 4) Telemedicine makes better use of physician resources, particularly in rural areas; 5) Healthcare financing organization need to decrease costs of healthcare. As the population globally ages, there are more individuals needing quality care and, in some areas, not enough resources (Field and Grigsby, 2002).

In any modern healthcare concern, however, there are a number of complex paradigms that interact with one another to provide a picture of…