Patient and Provider Perspectives on Rural eHealth Interventions

Although health care is widely accessible in most developed countries, rural areas often struggle to adequately meet health care needs. Challenges in accessing and receiving adequate health care introduce large variations in disease levels, level of treatment, life expectancy,and overall health status for rural populations. eHealth, or electronic health,defined here as any electronic medium used to access health services,is a method used to bridge the gap between rural and urban centers to improve health care access. Including the above definition, eHealth also includes any technology designed to improve efficiencies and reduce costs in relation to health care. By providing a comprehensive overview of feedback from past interventions, policy-makers and program developers can develop strategies to improve the implementation and the use of eHealth technologies.