technologies to provide up-to-date, timely, cost-effective subspecialty care to resource-limited populations and to provide continuing education and longitudinal support to ID physicians. The purpose of this position statement is to educate IDSA members on the use of telehealth and telemedicine technologies and to promote IDSA’s position on the use of such technologies. DEFINING TELEHEALTH, TELEMEDICINE, AND MHEALTH Telehealth The Health Resources Services Administration (HRSA), an agency within the US Department of Health and Human Services, defines telehealth as “the use of electronic information and telecommunications technologies to support long-distance clinical health care, patient and professional health-related education, public health and health administration. Technologies include videoconferencing, the internet, store-and-forward imaging, IDSA PUBLIC POLICY © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press for the Infectious Diseases Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, e-mail journals.permissions@oup.com. DOI: 10.1093/cid/ciw773 Received 3 November 2016; editorial decision 8 November 2016; accepted 23 November 2016. Correspondence: K. J. Moyer, 1300 Wilson Blvd. Suite 300 Arlington, VA 22209 (kmoyer@ idsociety.org). Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/cid/article/64/3/237/2912592 by guest on 03 December 2021 238 • CID 2017:64 (1 February) • Siddiqui et al streaming media, and terrestrial and wireless communications” [5]. Furthermore, HRSA distinguishes telehealth from telemedicine as applying to “a broader scope of remote healthcare services … telemedicine refers specifically to remote clinical services, [while] telehealth can refer to remote non-clinical services, such as provider training, administrative meetings, and continuing medical education, in addition to clinical services” [5]. Telemedicine Historically, the term “telemedicine”—often used interchangeably with “telehealth”—has been used to describe the interaction between a patient and a provider when separated by geographic distance. Modern methods of telemedicine typically use audio-video technologies to provide a real-time (synchronous), encrypted, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)–compliant interaction between the patient and clinician. This interaction increases access to specialty healthcare and eliminates the need for distance travel. High-definition cameras and encryption software as well as specialized equipment, including electronic stethoscopes, high-definition cameras, otoscopes, and ophthalmoscopes, are now widely available. Telemedicine has proven effective in a variety of care settings, and several studies support its use in a myriad of clinical environments, including for psychiatric care [6, 7], surgical services [8], emergency medicine [9], and critical care [10, 11], with enhanced, more timely access to care, cost savings, and high patient satisfaction [12]. Telemedicine may provide high-quality, high-value care to patients with a broad range of infectious diseases, including acutely ill inpatients and those with chronic infections (eg, human immunodeficiency virus or hepatitis C) managed in the ambulatory setting [13, 14]. mHealth Mobile health, or mHealth, is the delivery of healthcare services via mobile devices [15]. The term has been used to identify healthcare delivery using a variety of mobile technologies, not only for direct patient care but including health monitoring and patient education. Although the application of mHealth is in the early phases of adoption, it has been demonstrated to play an increasing role in clinical medicine and clinical research. Examples of the use of mHealth technologies include monitoring medication compliance, monitoring disease and medication-related side effects, and using electronic devices to enhance chronic disease management. Examples of established use cases for telehealth and telemedicine may be found in the Supplementary Materials. Understanding the Technology ID telemedicine service providers can choose between, or combine, two fundamentally different care delivery modalities: synchronous and asynchronous. Synchronous