Telehealth — Remote Healthcare Services in Latin America

What Is Telehealth?

Telehealth is an umbrella concept encompassing the delivery of healthcare services at a distance using information and communication technologies (ICT). According to WHO and PAHO definitions, telehealth goes beyond telemedicine and includes modalities such as teleconsultation (real-time medical consultations), telemonitoring (remote tracking of vital signs), tele-education (distance training for healthcare professionals), and tele-management (remote administration of health services).

In Latin America, the term telehealth has been widely adopted in national regulatory frameworks. Peru, through MINSA, Colombia with its Telehealth Law, and Mexico with specific guidelines, have all established regulations governing the different modalities of remote healthcare service delivery. These frameworks define technical, clinical, and legal requirements for each modality.

The distinction between telehealth and telemedicine is important: while telemedicine focuses on medical acts performed remotely, telehealth covers a broader spectrum that includes health promotion, prevention, professional training, and administrative management — all enabled by technology.

Why It Matters in Healthcare

• Universal health coverage: Telehealth is a key tool for extending healthcare services to geographically dispersed populations, helping close access gaps across Latin America.
• Consolidated regulatory framework: Countries in the region have specific legal frameworks that regulate and validate different telehealth modalities, providing legal certainty for providers and patients.
• Health system efficiency: Reduces unnecessary transfers between care levels, optimizes the use of scarce specialists, and decreases pressure on hospital infrastructure.
• Chronic disease management: Telemonitoring enables continuous follow-up of patients with diabetes, hypertension, and other chronic conditions, detecting early warnings without in-person visits.
• Continuous professional training: Tele-education allows healthcare professionals at remote facilities to access specialized training and ongoing clinical updates.
• Resilience during health crises: As COVID-19 demonstrated, telehealth enables continuity of care during health emergencies.

How Davix Relates to Telehealth

• Comprehensive telehealth platform: Davix Physician Platform supports multiple telehealth modalities, from video teleconsultation to remote patient follow-up.
• HIS integration: All telehealth interactions are automatically recorded in Davix HIS, ensuring continuity of the clinical record regardless of the care modality.
• Digital referral and counter-referral: The system facilitates referral and counter-referral workflows between care levels, an essential component of telehealth in tiered systems like Peru's.
• Patient access through Davix+: Patients interact with the telehealth ecosystem through the Davix+ app, which offers teleconsultation scheduling, AI-powered quoting, copay calculation, and live chat with verified specialists.
• Regulatory compliance: Davix complies with current telehealth regulations in Peru, Colombia, and other countries in the region, including clinical documentation, electronic signatures, and data protection.

Telehealth is not the future — it is the present. Davix provides the complete technology infrastructure to implement all telehealth modalities across your facility network.