Telehealth Taxonomy & DefinitionsReturn to Welcome page

To understand the relationships of the various telehealth-related terms, consider the following taxonomy:

Your understanding of this taxonomy will be helpful in your search for vendors, as most vendors only serve one specific type of service, e.g., only for Interactive Patient Care or only for Remote Patient Monitoring.

Telehealth Definitions

• Telehealth: Delivering Healthcare at a Distance.

• Telemedicine: Practicing Medicine at a Distance.

• Interactive Patient Care (IPC) Live Video, Chat, or Phone Interaction between a Clinician and a Patient.

• Remote Patient Monitoring (RPM) Continuous & Periodic Transmission of Vital Signs.

• Store & Forward (S&F) Asynchronous Transmission of Images, Video, Sound, etc.

• mHealth The use of Mobile Technologies in medical care.