A Qualitative Study of Sustainability and Vulnerability in Australian Telehealth Services

Abstract

The uptake of telehealth into the ongoing and routine operations of healthcare has been slow, uneven and fragmented. Research has focused on the initial adoption and diffusion of telehealth, with much less known about sustainability. This study made a qualitative inquiry into the sustainability of a diverse sample of ceased and continuing telehealth services in Australia, asking why services ceased, and how continuing services were either vulnerable or sustainable. Fifty four Australian telehealth services were identified in the academic literature over a ten year period between 1998 and 2007. A sample of these was chosen for maximum variation, and 36 semi-structured interviews were conducte..