1. Introduction The majority of telemedicine interactions in Ontario, outside of a hospital, take place among a small number of medical specialities, including mental health and addiction. Patients who access healthcare resources via telemedicine are familiar with videoconferencing and other remote connectivity methods, and have unique insight into this type of care. The aim of this poster is to outline the research design of the study, which will evaluate patient experience and satisfaction with telemedicine, and to consider new models of telemedicine planning, implementation, and deployment. Methods In this qualitative inductive study, patients currently utilizing telemedicine healthcare services, in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada will be interviewed to discuss their experiences with using telemedicine. In addition, key stakeholders (such as physicians, healthcare administrators, and policy makers in Ontario) will be interviewed to discuss planning, policy and implementation of telemedicine. Participants will be interviewed using semi-structured interviews and responses will be analyzed to identify emergent themes using a thematic analysis approach. It is hoped that the themes identified will inform a new theoretical model to further new methods of virtual healthcare planning, delivery and utilization. CONTACT Sidney Shapiro sx_shapiro@laurentian.ca Interdisciplinary Ph.D. Program in Rural and Northern Health, Laurentian University, Sudbury, ON Sidney Shapiro TELEMEDICINE AND ADDICTION An Indicator of Things to Come Research Project Due to the geographic and demographic challenges of rural and northern communities in Ontario (and generally in Canada), and a prioritization on lowering healthcare costs while improving access, new modalities of healthcare service delivery are needed. The study will focus on users who currently utilize telemedicine for out patient health care. It is expected that the majority of these patients will be in treatment for mental health and addiction, currently one of the largest users by sector of telemedicine (see graph). Interviews with patients currently using telehealth in an outpatient capacity and interviews with other key stakeholders will address themes of: safety, security, access to care, adaptability of telemedicine, satisfaction, and familiarity with technology. The goal of these interviews is to establish the current thought on policy, planning and implementation of telemedicine and compare this to the user experience. Suggested elements for improvement may include: new ways of training clinical and other staff to utilize telemedicine in practice, better communication protocols with remote healthcare providers, and alternative modalities of scheduling and opening hours, among others. All of these issues may represent barriers to utilizing telemedicine services, particularly when access to sites due to geographic distances, mobility, or technological barriers may be an issue. Research Project Due to the geographic and demographic challenges of rural and northern communities in Ontario (and generally in Canada), and a prioritization on lowering healthcare costs while improving access, new modalities of healthcare service delivery are needed. The study will focus on users who currently utilize telemedicine for out patient health care. It is expected that the majority of these patients will be in treatment for mental health and addiction, currently one of the largest users by sector of telemedicine (see graph). Interviews with patients currently using telehealth in an outpatient capacity and interviews with other key stakeholders will address themes of: safety, security, access to care, adaptability of telemedicine, satisfaction, and familiarity with technology. The goal of these interviews is to establish the current thought on policy, planning and implementation of telemedicine and compare this to the user experience. Suggested elements for improvement may include: new ways of training clinical and other staff to utilize telemedicine in practice, better communication protocols with remote healthcare providers, and alternative modalities of scheduling and opening hours, among others. All of these issues may represent barriers to utilizing telemedicine services, particularly when access to sites due to geographic distances, mobility, or technological barriers may be an issue. Telemedicine supports access to care across a wide variety of clinical therapeutic areas of care (TACs). Check out OTN's current "top six" TACS for Telemedicine use: Conclusions Telemedicine represents a cost saving and novel method for healthcare delivery. Using a technological mediated methods of connecting healthcare providers with patients shows promise in many areas where resources, both human and capital, are scarce. There may be ways to leverage and triage existing resources to facilitate better service and health care outcomes, travel time saved, and a significant environmental and financial cost savings. Ensuring that telemedicine will be adopted by patients, however, requires an understanding of how policy is envisioned and implemented on the ground, and how current utilization is experienced, and how the interaction with a remote healthcare provider interacts with wider social determinants of health. http://pccfht.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/otn-02.jpg https://otn.ca/en/healthcare-office/health-care-professionals http://www.businesskorea.co.kr/article/2188/u-health-promotion-korean-government-planning-develop-export-telemedicine-technologies Graphics URLs: