Reference no: EM133618318

The COVID-19 pandemic has provided a natural experiment, creating opportunities to assess empirically the impact of remote care services on different aspects of health system performance, although not all countries have collected data and conducted studies. Ten countries (Belgium, Canada, England, Estonia, France, Israel, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, and the United States) have collected indicators or metrics to assess the quality of telemedicine services, such as safety and outcomes. Administrative data on teleconsultations are very limited, with fewer than half of 31 OECD reporting countries having data on patient characteristics, type of telemedicine service, reasons for telemedicine use, and subsequent care. Without such data, it is difficult to understand the impact of telemedicine on health system performance. Moreover, only 12 countries refer to telemedicine in national legislation or policy on the quality of health care.