IJERPH, Vol. 20, Pages 5980: Integrating Telehealth for Strengthening Health Systems in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Perspective from Peru

IJERPH, Vol. 20, Pages 5980: Integrating Telehealth for Strengthening Health Systems in the Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Perspective from Peru International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health doi: 10.3390/ijerph20115980 Authors: Walter H. Curioso Lelis G. Coronel-Chucos Milagro Henríquez-Suarez The COVID-19 pandemic forced the government to rapidly modify its legal framework to adopt telemedicine and promote the implementation of telehealth services to meet the healthcare needs of patients in Peru. In this paper, we aim to review the main changes to the regulatory framework and describe selected initiatives to promote the telehealth framework that emerged in Peru during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, we discuss the challenges to integrate telehealth services for strengthening health systems in Peru. The Peruvian telehealth regulatory framework began in 2005, and in subsequent years, laws and regulations were established that sought to progressively implement a national telehealth network. However, mainly local initiatives were deployed. In this sense, significant challenges remain to be addressed, such as infrastructure in healthcare centers, including high-speed Internet connectivity; infostructure of health-information systems, including interoperability with electronic medical records; monitoring and evaluation of the national agenda for the health sector in 2020–2025; expanding the healthcare workforce in terms of di...
Source: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health - Category: Environmental Health Authors: Tags: Review Source Type: research