Brazilian telemedicine networks

Abstract

One of the outcomes of the telemedicine evolution was the emergence of telemedicine networks which can be characterized as the interconnection of centres or healthcare professionals to provide telemedicine services. This paper aims to present a study of the characteristics of the Brazilian telemedicine networks. For the implementation of this study and the selection of the projects, the authors proceeded a search and revision of articles and sites obtained in the Google and PubMed repositories. As conclusion, the existence of two types of networks was verified: infra-structure and telemedicine service; all of the networks are based on asynchronous telemedicine, most of them acting in inter-cities, nevertheless there are not telemedicine cases inside the own municipal district to eliminate socioeconomic barriers; there were not find inside these networks projects or initiatives to regulate the remuneration of the professionals involved in the processes as well as, the payment for the services that were used.