Home » About Telemedicine » Standards & Guidelines

Standards & Guidelines

The following Standards and Guidelines have been released by ATA.

1. Evidence-Based Practice for Telemental Health (July 2009) The American Telemedicine Association’s (ATA) Evidence-Based Practice for Telemental Health is designed to serve as a consensus best practice reference based on clinical empirical experience. The document is a companion document to ATA’s Practice Guidelines for Videoconferencing-Based Telemental Health, and is an educational tool to aid practitioners in meeting the practice guidelines set forth in the guidelines document for providing appropriate mental health services via telehealth technologies. The evidence-based document provides the reader with an analysis of current published literature. The evidence documents qualitative and quantitative research focused on interactive videoconferencing-based mental health services and telehealth/telemedicine. The document does not serve the purpose of outlining what should or should not be done by a mental health practitioner, but does provide reference and support for decision-making in developing and providing telemental health services. Interested practitioners and/or telehealth organizations should refer to ATA’s Practice Guidelines for Videoconferencing-Based Telemental Health for the specific methods to comply with the published standards and guidelines for telehealth and telemental health.

2. Core Standards for Telemedicine Operations (February 2008) - These guidelines include the fundamental requirements to be followed in providing remote medical services, interactive patient encounters, and any other electronic communications between patients and practitioners for the purposes of health care delivery. They apply to individual practitioners, group practices, health care systems, and other providers of health related services where there are telehealth interactions between patients and service providers for the purposes of health care delivery. Administrative, clinical and technical aspects are addressed.

3. Practice Guidelines for Teledermatology (December 2007) - These guidelines, generated by special working group of experts in dermatology, technology and telemedicine in cooperation with staff from the National Institutes of Standards and Technology, have undergone a thorough consensus and rigorous review, with final approval by the ATA Board of Directors. These guidelines are designed to aid in the development and practice of coherent, effective, safe and sustainable teledermatology practices.

4. Telehealth Practice Recommendations for Diabetic Retinopathy (May 2004) - These guidelines, prepared by the American Telemedicine Association, Ocular Telehealth Special Interest Group, and the National Institutes of Standards and Technology Working Group, have undergone a thorough consensus and rigorous review, with final approval by the ATA Board of Directors. A roadmap of technical standards, clinical guidelines and administrative procedures.

5. Home Telehealth Clinical Guidelines (2003) - Advances in telecommunication technologies used in health care over the last decade have expanded application possibilities. Home telehealth began with home health agencies providing virtual visits by collecting one or more personal vital signs, which were then sent to a remote monitoring station. Today, with the use of inter-active video and store and forward, applications in the home have expanded. In addition to remote monitoring of vital signs, services provided by home health agencies now include such diverse applications as hospice (palliative care), rehabilitation, case management, chronic disease management, virtual house calls, post-surgical follow-up and more. ATA has produced the Home Telehealth guideline to encompass these differences and establish a set of universal principles guiding the development and deployment of home telehealth in the future.

6. Clinical Guidelines for Telepathology (May 1999) - Prepared by ATA’s Special Interest Group on Telepathology. The concepts discussed in this document is applicable to all three types of telepathology; static (store and forward), dynamic (synchronous), and hybrid (static-dynamic) implementations.