The Telehealth Patient Experience section supports:
- Patient access to care.
- Optimization of the patient experience through the use of telehealth and remote health technologies.
- Performance and quality improvement efforts of telehealth services through regular review of telehealth implementation across the Military Health System (MHS).
The Telehealth Patient Experience section provides the DHA voting member as well as administrative and project management support for the MHS Virtual Health Working Group. The section also supports telehealth initiatives across the DHA including:
- Delivering telehealth training to staff, faculty, and students at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS).
- Supporting development of a DHA telehealth analytics portal.
- Providing review and response to Congressional requests related to telehealth services across the DoD.
- Supporting research studies related to delivery of health care to MHS beneficiaries via telehealth services.
Telehealth Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
What is telehealth?
Telehealth is the use of telecommunications and information technologies to provide health assessment, diagnosis, treatment, consultation, education, and health-related information across distances.
What technologies are used to deliver telehealth?
Technologies include videoconferencing, store-and-forward imaging, streaming media, the internet, remote patient monitoring, and terrestrial and wireless communications.
Why does the MHS use the term "virtual health"?
In the MHS, the terms “virtual health”, “virtual medicine”, “telehealth”, and “telemedicine” all mean the same thing and can be used interchangeably. Most recent MHS planning documents use the term "virtual health."
Is "telebehavioral health" different than "telehealth for behavioral health"?
In some cases, telehealth tools are used to support a particular clinical area, in which case, the term used often references the clinical area. Examples include: Telebehavioral health (aka telemental health, tele-psychiatry, and tele-psychology); tele-radiology; tele-cardiology; tele-ICU, and so on.
Is "connected health" the same thing as "telehealth"?
Connected health is a broader term that encompasses telehealth/virtual health technologies, as well as patient-focused mobile health (mHealth) technologies such as mobile apps and websites accessible by mobile devices.