Telemedicine can now cover all medical areas: Diagnostics, therapy, prevention and rehabilitation. Telemedicine is defined as the provision of medical services at a distance by means of telecommunications. The hope is that telemedicine will be able to meet the challenges of the national health care system, such as the long distances to rural doctors' practices or the lack of support for patients during follow-up care at home. So far, however, telemedicine applications have only very slowly found their way into medical care in Germany.

The IZT is entrusted with a technology assessment. For this purpose, the Institute designed a survey of medical professionals and medical networks, among others. In addition, two external expert reports were commissioned. The aim was to better identify barriers and (political) approaches to action.