Telecardiology in Italy:current realizations and future prospects

Italy has a long tradition of telemedicine experiments that may be dated back to the early Seventies and currently many different telemedicine services are implemented in the country. Cardiology is the field of health care that currently gets the greatest benefits from telemedicine and it is also a very relevant field, since it is estimated that there are about three million people affected by chronic heart failure (5% of the population). In this paper we review some of the most significant cardiac telemonitoring projects in Italy, then we show the future prospects for telecardiology and put in evidence responsibilities and legal aspects. We conclude that telecardiology, by enabling a better interaction between hospital and territory by means of teleconsulting, telemonitoring, telecare and remote access to clinical information, improves the quality of the whole health system. However, it cannot and should not replace the essential home care services, but it should be integrated properly and profitably with them.