MethoTelemed

The project aims are 1. to produce a guidance; ‘the MethoTelemed Guidance’ for methodologies that meet criteria of quality and can contribute to the development of the still limited evidence base on the impacts, benefits and costs of telemedicine. 2. to produce a publishable article.

These tasks are undertaken through a systematic and academically rigorous review of research on telemedicine and an analysis of how methodologies identified produce and validate results. Included is an evaluation of currently used Health Technology Assessment (HTA) methodologies in the field of telemedicine. The work pays careful attention to stakeholder perspectives through 2 consultation workshops. The main outcomes are to guide academic endeavours as well as policy decisions. The timeframe is from 010209 - 010210.

The project and its objectives in short:

Research focus:

1. Research of existing studies
2. Review their methodology
3. Assess appropriateness of HTA for use in evaluation of telemedicine studies/services

Outcome:

• Proposed methodology
• Guidance (guidelines)
• Publishable article

Challenge:

Assessing the various methodologies on substantial scientific ground and narrowing it down to a quickly understandable description to give it a practical focus. The workshops will be the test bed for these descriptions that will ultimately be content of the guidance and data for the article.

The first result of the project was published in the short version, March 09:

Ekeland, Bowes and Gammon: MethoTelemed Short Version

The 1st workshop took place in Brussels June 17th, 2009

• Report from the workshop (Pdf, 7,7MB. Oct 09)
• Introduction to participants
• HTA-paper
• Tentative results from the literature review
• Case descriptions
• Presentation, Garcia-Lizana

The 2nd workshop took place in Auderghem, November 5th, 2009.

• Overview of the workshop
• Introduction to the workshop (pdf)
• MethoTelemed validation report (pdf)
• Agenda and participants (pdf)

The final report and the MethoTelemed Guidance will be developed autumn/winter 09.

Model for ASsessment of Telemedicine - MAST

MAST is a new model for assessment of telemedicine to be used as a basis for decision-making in EU and the European countries in decisions on use of telemedicine applications. MAST consist of two products:
- The MAST Manual (describes what to include in a MAST multidisciplinary assessment and how to perform it)
- The MAST Toolkit (a checklist for outcomes in the assessment of a telemedicine application)

More information about MAST:
MAST Manual_v2 14.04.2010.pdf
MAST_Toolkit_v2.xls

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