Home telehealth: connecting care within the community

A variety of forces are driving the use of technology in the health care field—population ageing, chronic illness, quality outcomes, self-care, patient empowerment, consumer convenience, and rising costs. From an integrated care perspective, mobile communications, remote monitoring and other innovative technologies—the core applications of what is increasingly known as telehealth, telemedicine or telecare—can serve as a kind of glue to hold the health (and social) care team together, enhance patient–provider relationships, and support new, better and more efficient models of coordinated, patient-centred care.