National Initiatives for Telehealth ICT Infrastructures in the Nordic Countries

Telehealth is the use of information technology to provide healthcare services e.g. consultations and remote patient monitoring over distances. Telehealth has the potential to help lower the number and duration of hospital stays, strengthen patient empowerment etc. One of the major barriers for telehealth implementations on national scales is the lack of national ICT infrastructures to support it. This study outlines national telehealth infrastructure initiatives in the Nordic countries, where available. The starting point for this study was a 2010 report series by the European Commission on eHealth Strategies in the member states of EU and EEA. Where available and found, infrastructure documents published by the national governments are used.