Leading practices for the future of telemedicine

Telemedicine has transformed how healthcare is delivered, emerging from a pandemic necessity to a cornerstone of modern health systems. This fast-track report explores how OECD countries have embedded telemedicine into everyday care and the implications on equitable access, sustainable funding, and data-driven decision-making. Through in-depth discussions with experts and analysis of telemedicine practices across OECD countries, this paper identifies leading practices across data collection, innovative financing models, inclusive governance, and integration into care models. The post-pandemic use of telemedicine introduces challenging policy questions on its impact, equity, and financial sustainability. OECD countries varied in their ability to meet leading practices, but the best performers had dynamic telemedicine implementation with granular data, continuous evaluation, embedded stakeholder engagement, and models to scale innovative telemedicine care models. Adhering to the identified leading practices ensures that in the post-pandemic era, telemedicine is implemented equitably and sustainably to support resilient health systems.