Telemedicine in hepatology – promising solution for our patients?

Telemedicine refers to the remote provision of health care. Times of crisis like a pandemic and the increasing global burden of liver diseases call for finding innovative healthcare solutions to maintain and improve the standards of care. Provision of health care from a distance based on remote consultations, visits, and monitoring, in addition to standard care, uncovers the potential to improve the quality of care. Despite its challenges, the utilization of telemedicine in many areas of hepatology has been showing promising effects on access, healthcare quality, and cost-effectiveness. We report a case demonstrating the relevant position of telemedicine in the liver transplant decision-making process and our experiences with telehealth in routine clinical praxis. Keywords telemedicine, telehealth, teleconsultations, televisits, telemonitoring, liver disease, cirrhosis, liver transplantation, health care quality