Telemedical record documentation: a preliminary survey

Telemedical records are the weak link in telemedicine. With a number of med icolegal and reimbursement issues still unresolved, telemedical record docu mentation will be a critical piece of the puzzle when the patient's origina l legal medical record must be produced. A questionnaire was distributed to active telemedicine programmes in the USA to determine how interactive tel econsultations were being documented. Forty programmes completed the questi onnaire. The responses indicated a lack of consistency and a need for docum entation guidelines for telemedical records.