Science fiction programs once imagined a future where a doctor on a spaceship could treat a patient on a distant planet using groundbreaking technology. The health care industry may not yet have made this giant leap, but doctors and health care providers are boldly going where they have never gone before thanks to advances in video, wireless tools and telecommunications. Telemedicine: the next frontier.

Navigating these uncharted territories, however, brings its own risks. Whether patient health information takes the form of electronic files, video recordings, pictures, images or physical records, telemedicine providers must address the privacy, security and confidentiality issues associated with telemedicine.

Recently Pepper Hamilton hosted a webinar on this topic and the panel provided information for those health care providers exploring the strange new world of telemedicine, including privacy and security considerations, HIPAA/HITECH compliance, and best practices for protecting patient health information.

These are the PowerPoint slides from the webinar.