Is Austria Ready for Telemonitoring? A Readiness Assessment Among Doctors and Patients in the Field of Diabetes

Background: Telemonitoring offers new opportunities in the treatment of chronically ill patients and could help to improve their quality of life while reducing healthcare costs. Objectives: The willingness to use telemonitoring is examined for both physicians and patients. From the perspective of the most important stakeholders, advantages and disadvantages as well as barriers for telemonitoring are analysed. Methods: A Telehealth Readiness Assessment was carried out with physicians (n=41) and patients (n=47) in a cross-sectional study. A stakeholder survey was conducted by use of interviews (n=28). Results: Average readiness for telemonitoring is 58% for physicians, and 65% for patients. Both are thus in a position where there are several arguments which adversely affect the success of telemonitoring. The most important advantage is the intensified care, while the biggest concerns are data protection as well as the loss of personal communication. The greatest barriers are the lack of funding, the weak clinical and economic evidence and the organisation of the Austrian healthcare system. Conclusion: There are still some barriers to overcome, especially financial, political and organisational.