The terms telehealth, telehealth, virtual care, and digital health are often used interchangeably, but that doesn’t mean they should be used interchangeably.
Hari Eswaran and Leah Dawson, two researchers at the University of Arkansas School of Medical Sciences, found that these terms often have different meanings for different stakeholders, such as vendors, academics, and federal agencies.Presentation of the survey results their learning at HHS’ National Telehealth Conference almost on tuesdayUnderstanding how different stakeholders use telehealth terminology is key to effectively communicating care, Eswaran said, a key consideration for its permanent coverage status not yet determined.
According to Eswaran, telemedicine has historically been used to describe telemedicine, a term that became popular in the 1990s. He described telemedicine as a subset of telemedicine, meaning that telemedicine specifically refers to remote clinical care, while telemedicine can refer to remote non-clinical services. He also noted that digital health is a larger umbrella term that includes both telemedicine and telemedicine.
In their research, Eswaran and Dawson found that lawmakers used the terms telemedicine and telemedicine interchangeably. Medical institutions have a different meaning for the two terms 76% of the time, while academic research has a different meaning 60% of the time.
The study also found differences in the definitions used by federal agencies. For example, the Health Resources and Services Administration defines telehealth as the use of electronic information and telecommunications technologies to support remote clinical care, patient and professional health-related education, public health, and health management. The agency has a separate definition of virtual care, describing it as the use of technologies such as telehealth, remote patient monitoring and self-management tools powered by artificial intelligence and machine learning.
In contrast, CMS defines telehealth, telehealth, and related terms (such as virtual care) as generally referring to the use of electronic communications to exchange medical information from one site to another to improve patient health.
Some vendors and lawmakers may include technologies such as wearables and remote patient monitoring in their definitions of telehealth and digital health, further complicating how these terms are received. In fact, wearables and ubiquitous health sensors are becoming an important part of digital health, said Elizabeth Krubinski, director of the Southwest Telehealth Resource Center. She noted that tech giants like Amazon and Google are among the biggest innovators in the field, marking another stakeholder group where telehealth terms may be defined differently.
As these technologies continue to evolve and gain prominence in the medtech market, providers and organizations need to be more mindful of the terminology they use when advocating for permanent telehealth coverage.
“You need to know who your audience is, and you want that to be reflected in the definitions you use,” Eswaran said.
His words come as healthcare providers and patient advocates continue to push the federal government and private payers to expand telehealth reimbursement beyond pandemic-induced emergencies, driving its nationwide adoption. This leaves providers and other advocates working with lawmakers to clearly identify which services are considered telehealth for reimbursement and avoid any opportunity for misunderstanding, Eswaran suggested.
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