History & Overview

Newcomers to telemedicine believe that it is a very recent innovation, but telemedicine actually began in the United States in the late 1950's. In 1959, the University of Nebraska employed interactive television for telepsychiatry consultations by linking the Nebraska Psychiatric Institute in Omaha and Norfolk State Hospital, an isolated state mental facility 112 miles away.

In the 1990s, telemedicine grew from relative obscurity to having a wider visibility in a very short time. The "driver" of telemedicine has primarily been the federal government, with no less than 13 federal agencies providing grants for telemedicine program development. While recent budget cutting in Congress is threatening the existence of some federally-funded telemedicine programs, advances in technology and decreases in costs are making telemedicine much more affordable and allowing institutions to sustain their programs without government assistance.

With telemedicine, health care providers can increase efficiency through better management of information and data, expand market share and provide access to more timely and convenient services.