An Overview of Telehealth in the Management of Cardiovascular Disease: A Scientific Statement From the American Heart Association

Overview

Journal Circulation

Specialty Cardiology & Vascular Diseases

Date 2022 Nov 14

PMID 36373541

Authors

Edwin A Takahashi

Lee H Schwamm

Opeolu M Adeoye

Olamide Alabi

Eiman Jahangir

Sanjay Misra

Carolyn H Still

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Telehealth enables the remote delivery of health care through telecommunication technologies and has substantially affected the evolving medical landscape. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the utilization of telehealth as health care professionals were forced to limit face-to-face in-person visits. It has been shown that information delivery, diagnosis, disease monitoring, and follow-up care can be conducted remotely, resulting in considerable changes specific to cardiovascular disease management. Despite increasing telehealth utilization, several factors such as technological infrastructure, reimbursement, and limited patient digital literacy can hinder the adoption of remote care. This scientific statement reviews definitions pertinent to telehealth discussions, summarizes the effect of telehealth utilization on cardiovascular and peripheral vascular disease care, and identifies obstacles to the adoption of telehealth that need to be addressed to improve health care accessibility and equity.

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