Framework for Canadian telehealth guidelines: summary of the environmental scan.

A Canadian project (the National Initiative for Telehealth Guidelines) was established to develop telehealth guidelines that would be used by health professionals, by telehealth providers as benchmarks for standards of service and by accrediting agencies for accreditation criteria. An environmental scan was conducted, which focused on organizational, human resource, clinical and technological issues. A literature review, a stakeholder survey (245 mail-outs, 84 complete responses) and 48 key informant interviews were conducted.