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Our highly trained specialists are available 24/7 via phone and on weekdays can assist through online chat. We connect patients, caregivers, and family members with essential services and resources at every step of their cancer journey. Ask us how you can get involved and support the fight against cancer. Some of the topics we can assist with include:
For medical questions, we encourage you to review our information with your doctor.
Telemedicine is the use of technology that lets a patient have medical appointments (or visits) with their doctor or another member of their health care team. It can be used when the patient and their doctor are not in the same location.
Telemedicine uses technology to help the doctor “see” you when you have a medical problem that needs to be managed. For example, telemedicine might be used if you have diabetes or high blood pressure, or if you’re getting a medicine or treatment that could cause side effects. Telemedicine can be helpful because you might not need to leave your home to be checked or might not have to travel if you’re far from a doctor. Your doctor might refer to telemedicine as having a virtual visit with you.
Telemedicine is just one part of telehealth services. Although telemedicine is focused on medical care (often provided by a doctor or nurse practitioner), telehealth uses the same technology to provide a wider range of health services from a wider range of providers. Telehealth may include other health services such as:
In the past, telehealth and telemedicine were mostly used for patients who lived in rural areas, didn’t have easy access to doctors, and would otherwise have to travel a long distance for a medical appointment. More recently, they are being used for patients who live anywhere.
Different technologies can be used depending on what’s being done or what problems you might have, such as if you’re due for a check-up or if your doctor needs certain kinds of information to help manage your care from a distance. Keep in mind that some doctors' offices or health care facilities may not have any technology available, but those that do might use things like:
If technology is available, it can be used to do a virtual visit when you’re at home. Or, it can be used when you’re in a doctor’s office or health care facility and you need to meet with a doctor, specialist, or other health care professional who is in another location. For example, if you’re at a rural health clinic; a skilled nursing facility or nursing home; a mental health center; or another hospital, doctor’s office, or health center.
Here are some examples of how you might be able to use telemedicine or telehealth, if it’s available to you:
It’s important to know that a face-to-face visit may still be required even though you are using telemedicine or telehealth for certain things.
For cancer patients and survivors, here are some examples of how telemedicine and telehealth technologies can be used. Technology might be available and helpful if you need:
Talk to your cancer care team to find out if any technologies are available to help with these or other concerns you, your family, or caregiver might have.
If telehealth services are available to you, check with your health care team to find out which types of technologies they have and if there is a cost for you. If there are costs for certain types of telehealth services, it may be covered by your insurance. In the US, this depends on which state you are in.
Each state has the choice to decide whether or not telehealth is covered, what types of telehealth are covered, which types of care or services to cover, and where in the state telehealth can be made available.
Each state also has its own way of describing the technologies used in telehealth. Some might call all of these technologies telehealth or telemedicine and some might have very specific names for each type of technology. It is important to learn and be familiar with the rules in your own state.
Check with your insurance company to see if and what telehealth services are covered, and what your out-of-pocket costs might be. For patients who have Medicare, a list of services covered for telehealth can be found at https://www.medicare.gov/coverage/telehealth.
The American Cancer Society medical and editorial content team
Our team is made up of doctors and oncology certified nurses with deep knowledge of cancer care as well as editors and translators with extensive experience in medical writing.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Telehealth and telemedicine. 2016. Accessed at https://www.cdc.gov/phlp/publications/topic/telehealth.html on March 24, 2020.
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) & Medical Learning Network (MLN). Telehealth services. 2020. Accessed at https://www.cms.gov/Outreach-and-Education/Medicare-Learning-Network-MLN/MLNProducts/downloads/TelehealthSrvcsfctsht.pdf on March 25, 2020.
Doyle-Lindrud S. Telemedicine in oncology. Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing. 2016;20(1):27.
Edmunds M, Tuckson R, Thomas L. An emergent research and policy framework for telehealth. The Journal for Electronic Health Data and Methods. 2017;5(2):1303.
Marcoux RM, Vogenberg R. Telehealth: Applications from a legal and regulatory perspective. Pharmacy and Therapeutics. 2016;41(9):567-570.
Medicare.gov. Telehealth. Accessed at https://www.medicare.gov/coverage/telehealth on March 24, 2020.
Medicaid.gov. Telemedicine. Accessed at https://www.medicaid.gov/medicaid/benefits/telemedicine/index.html on March 24, 2020.
Sirintrapun SJ, Lopez AM. Telemedicine in cancer care. American Society of Clinical Oncology Educational Book. 2018;38:540-545.
Last Revised: April 22, 2020
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