Findings:

We identified 1,494 citations about telehealth, from which 58 systematic reviews met our inclusion criteria. A large volume of research reported that telehealth interventions produce positive outcomes when used for remote patient monitoring, broadly defined, for several chronic conditions and for psychotherapy as part of behavioral health. The most consistent benefit has been reported when telehealth is used for communication and counseling or remote monitoring in chronic conditions such as cardiovascular and respiratory disease, with improvements in outcomes such as mortality, quality of life, and reductions in hospital admissions. Given sufficient evidence of effectiveness for these topics, the focus of future research should shift to implementation and practice-based research. Topics with an evidence base that could be the focus of future systematic reviews include telehealth for consultation, uses in intensive care units, and applications in maternal and child health. We also identified topics with a limited evidence base such as telehealth for triage in urgent/primary care, management of serious pediatric conditions, patient outcomes for teledermatology, and the integration of behavioral and physical health that may be best addressed by additional primary research. Finally, telehealth research should be integrated into evaluation of new models of care and payment so that the potential of telehealth can be assessed across the continuum of care in organizations that are implementing these reforms.