As interest in telemedicine grows, many of its proponents and vendors incre
asingly suggest that it is now time to move to full-scale implementation of
telemedicine services in a variety of contexts throughout the world, and q
uestion the need for further evidence of its utility and cost-effectiveness
. We have reviewed the published literature relating to cost-effectiveness
studies in telemedicine and have identified some important weaknesses. Ten
recommendations regarding the design of economic evaluations of telemedicin
e are suggested.