Report: Telehealth a Possible Solution to Health Care Challenges

Historical context (November 2026): This article summarizes a May 2011 industry report by Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC), Telemedicine: An Essential Technology for Reformed Healthcare. Its examples, recommendations and statements about potential benefits reflect that period; they are not current nationwide measures or guarantees that telehealth will improve outcomes or reduce costs in every setting. Telehealth payment rules and eligibility have changed since 2011. For current U.S. Medicare guidance, consult HHS Medicare telehealth payment policies. The original CSC report (May 2011, archived PDF) provides the historical context.

Telehealth can be a useful tool for health care providers to address issues related to access and quality of care, resource management and the growing costs of care, according to the original 2011 CSC report published in May 2011 by Computer Sciences Corporation, NextGov‘s “Health IT Update” reported on June 6, 2011 (Pulley, NextGov).

According to the report — titled “Telemedicine: An Essential Technology for Reformed Healthcare” — the health reform initiatives reviewed at that time were changing care delivery and raising challenges that the authors believed telehealth could help address.

Details of the Report

For the report, CSC authors reviewed health care practices and reform initiatives in several countries and discussed potential benefits and barriers of telehealth.

The 2011 industry report described ways telehealth technologies could potentially support health care providers:

• Address rising costs of care;
• Offer improved quality of care;
• Meet demands for care;
• Overcome resource shortages; and
• Achieve patient satisfaction.

The report described telehealth programs used in a variety of care delivery and health management settings, “ranging from the most intensive care setting in the hospital to health and wellness monitoring at home.”

Identifying Barriers

The report identified several barriers limiting broader use of telehealth, including:

• Legacy health care delivery models;
• Regulatory restrictions;
• Payment policies; and
• Technical issues.

As a result, it will be necessary to develop “strategies and tactics for eliminating or mitigating [the barriers’] impact,” the researchers wrote (CMIO, 6/8).

Overcoming the Barriers

The report recommended that health care providers begin by identifying a concrete clinical or operational need, then consider the following steps:

• Focus on “immediate needs and opportunities”; and
• Examine local and regional efforts that remove the barriers to telehealth use (“Health IT Update,” NextGov, 6/6).