Advocates of telehealth argue that the delivery of health services by means
of communications ions technologies is both feasible and desirable. Nevert
heless, the benefits of telehealth, due ro the variety of its applications
and their uneven development, are not self-evident., The goal of this paper
is to reflect on the processes by which telehealth applications do or do n
ot contribute to the delivery of health sen ices. We propose a framework st
ructuring a preliminary analysis of the match between needs and the possibi
lities offered by telehealth. Four mechanisms of expected benefits are disc
ussed: 1) decreasing patient transfers; 2) decreasing trips by providers an
d patients; 3) meeting the needs of underserved populations; and 4) buildin
g providers' and patients' knowledge and reducing rural isolation. We concl
ude by stressing that the participation of providers is crucial, both in th
e research on telehealth and in the steering of its evolution.