Panel Session - Telemedicine: From Italy to the World

PANEL SESSION

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has accelerated the adoption of telemedicine globally. This special session reviews telemedicine frameworks, identifies gaps in its implementation, and investigates changes in telemedicine frameworks during COVID-19 in some different settings internationally. There is a need to pursue the streamlining of a comprehensive public health preparedness framework that is interoperable and enables collaboration and resource sharing, where telemedicine is an integral part of the public health response not only during epidemics such as COVID-19 but also to make healthcare an asset available to all. With proper strengthening, telemedicine has the potential to act as a 'safety net' of our public health response. Our focus on telemedicine should help us to adapt the healthcare response in different socio-cultural and economic realities. Comparisons between different countries can help to improve and integrate systems.

The list of topics includes the following ones:

• Telemedicine in different social and economic health realities
• Different approaches to telemedicine and telehealth
• Telemedicine frameworks and policies of various countries/regions and their implementation stage
• How technology can foster the spread of telemedicine
• Cybersecurity