Telehealth and the evolving health care system: Strategic opportunities for professional psychology

Telehealth (previously telemedicine)-the use of telecommunications to provide health information and care across distance-has recently reemerged as a potentially effective way to provide general and specialty health care services and appears poised to enter mainstream health service delivery. Because telehealth may become a significant part of the future of health care, it is critical to all professions that it be defined broadly. Barriers to the appropriate development of telehealth must be examined and addressed. Professional psychology's ongoing integrated legislative, legal, marketplace, and consumer education strategies for dealing with recent broader market-driven changes in the health care, system provide a solid framework for analyzing and ensuring that psychological practice is poised to manage the opportunities and challenges presented by this emerging field.