Project Website http://www.csail.mit.edu/node/2681
Telemedicine/telehealth is poised for double digit growth and widespread adoption within the next decade. The remote delivery of healthcare services, fueled by advances in communication and mobile health technologies, has been shown to provide improved outcomes and quality at a reduced per-capita cost. In the wake of the Affordable Care Act, this shift motivates research into both technical and non-technical aspects of telemedicine from the first stage of the patient/physician connection to the later stages of nationwide telehealth data systems.
This UROP provides opportunity for multiple students to be involved to study technical, business, policy, and public health issues. Previous researchers have published their findings in technical, business, medical, and legal journals. The focus and scope of the UROP can be tailored to the background and interest of the concerned student.
Specific projects include: (i) integrating and analyzing medical data from heterogeneous systems and formats; (ii) proposing new systems for nationwide telehealth data systems; (iii) identifying technical solutions to current barriers in evolving telemedicine concepts; (iv) assessing telemedicine prototype systems that have been deployed in various parts of the world; and (v) analyzing the effects of divergent and patchwork regulations in various U.S states; (vi) doing cost comparisons of telemedicine versus traditional medicine; and (vii) analyzing legal and public policy aspects of telemedicine.