Barriers and opportunities to the widespread adoption of telemedicine: a bi-country evaluation.

Recognizing that current practices for healthcare delivery are no longer sustainable, OECD governments are focusing more and more on how to leverage ICT to facilitate superior healthcare delivery. One such possibility is the use of Telemedicine. A major goal of telemedicine today is to develop next-generation telemedicine tools and technologies. However, key "classic" barriers continue to challenge widespread telemedicine adoption by health care organizations. These barriers include technology, financial, legal/standards, business strategy, and human resources issues. This comparative study explores the current status of barriers and opportunities to the widespread adoption of telemedicine in two different countries: Sweden, and USA.