A “matter of communication”: A new classification to compare and evaluate telehealth and telemedicine interventions and understand their effectiveness as a communication process

This article attempts to define functions and applications of telemedicine and telehealth in order to achieve a simplified and comprehensive taxonomy. This may be used as a tool to evaluate their efficacy and to address health policies from the perspective of the centrality of information in the healthcare. Starting from a lexical frame, telemedicine or telehealth is conceived as a communication means and their action as a communication process. As a performance, the communication is related to the health outcome. Three functions (telemetry, telephasis, and telepraxis) and nine applications are identified. Understanding the mechanisms of telemedicine and telehealth effectiveness is crucial for a value-driven healthcare system. This new classification—focusing on the end effect of telemedicine and telehealth and on the type of interactions between involved actors—moves toward a new and simplified methodology to compare different studies and practices, design future researches, classify new technologies and guide their development, and finally address health policies and the healthcare provision.