{
  "abstract": "Issue/problem: Austria’s national eHealth strategy (2024–2028) envisions digitally supported patient pathways under the principle “digital before ambulatory before inpatient”, aiming to ensure access to appropriate care through integrated digital and in-person services. Telemedicine is a key enabler of access, coordination and continuity. In practice, provision remains fragmented and largely pilot-driven across regions, providers and indications. This gap highlights a core policy challenge: telemedicine does not fail due to lack of technology, but due to the difficulty of scaling it into coordinated routine care.\n\nDescription of the problem: Within Austria’s joint governance framework (Zielsteuerung-Gesundheit), telemedicine is addressed through a cross-cutting patient pathway initiative. In a multistakeholder working group, federal, regional and social insurance actors co-create a shared basis for policy decisions. Building on a common definition, the process focuses on integrating digital services across all phases of a modern patient journey. The initial focus is physician-led teleconsultation for acute, non-life-threatening cases, defining concepts, roles and cornerstones.\n\nResults: The main effect is the creation of a shared governance frame positioning telemedicine within patient pathways. As a first operational step, stakeholders prioritised physician-led teleconsultation as a nationwide, standardised entry point, translating a broad digital vision into a concrete implementation pathway.\n\nLessons: Telemedicine scales when governed as patient pathway infrastructure rather than implemented as stand-alone services. Scaling depends on negotiated alignment of stakeholders, workflows, responsibilities, reimbursement, legal frameworks and interoperable infrastructures. Public health action should prioritise staged co-creation, transforming fragmented initiatives into coordinated, integrated and equitable digital care.\n\nKey messages: • Scaling telemedicine nationwide requires recognising its role across patient pathways and aligning stakeholders, workflows and incentives beyond isolated pilots.\n\n• Telemedicine scale-up is a governance process in which stakeholders co-create and stabilise shared solutions across the health system.",
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  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 3,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "C Wegleitner-Kainz"
    },
    {
      "name": "A Laschkolnig"
    },
    {
      "name": "EF Tanriverdi"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/bmknh9p6mp489.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.1093/eurpub/ckag169.1237",
  "fulltext_url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC13699415/",
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  "native_subjects": [
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      "heading",
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  "pdf_url": "https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13699415/pdf/?tool=EBI",
  "pmcid": "PMC13699415",
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-01",
  "publisher": "Oxford University Press",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/bmknh9p6mp489.ris",
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  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "medicine",
      "origin": "openalex:2739|Telemedicine and Telehealth Implementation",
      "subfield": "epidemiology-public-health"
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  "title": "From pilots to integrated patient pathways: governing telemedicine scale-up in Austria",
  "title_text": "From pilots to integrated patient pathways: governing telemedicine scale-up in Austria",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:36:00Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/bmknh9p6mp489",
  "venue": "The European Journal of Public Health",
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}