A Telemedicine Opportunity or Distraction?

Innovative IT applications such as patient-present telemedicine consultation services can save lives and reduce costs. Yet, despite extensive pilot-testing, few such services have achieved long-term viability. Partners HealthCare's TeleStroke service, in full operation and managed by the Massachusetts General Hospital Neurology department, is financially self-sustaining and serves a vital need. Clinicians at some participating hospitals are interested in using telemedicine for other medical applications outside of stroke care. Should Partners expand its service? What organizational, clinical, and technical issues would arise if Partners expand its telemedicine offerings? How can these issues best be managed? The case is intended for an MBA or advanced undergraduate course in IT Management. We use this case in the first module of a Strategic IT Management course. Module I, Use IT for Business Value, introduces students to the resource based view of management and the mechanisms through which IT (hardware, software, network, and data resources) can add business value-such as by being embedded in a product or service (Netflix case), by generating valuable data that enables management to make better decisions or improve operations (Harrah's Entertainment and Catching Tax Cheats cases), and by serving as a platform for collaboration (this Telemedicine case).

• Strategy
• Healthcare and treatment
• IT management