A needs assessment should be conducted before starting a telemedicine clinic to determine if the clinic is needed and in what communities. A needs assessment includes analyzing the population to be served, current access to specialists, organizations' capabilities and willingness to partner, costs and potential revenue, gaps in services, key customers and competitors, and organizational readiness of potential partners. The needs assessment provides information for a market analysis and business plan.

1. Needs Assessment

2. What is a Needs Assessment?
• A needs assessment is an analysis of the
communities you plan to serve to determine if
your service is appropriate for that population
• It is also an analysis of the organizations you
might partner with and their capabilities or
willingness
• This should be performed before starting a
telemedicine clinic to determine if your clinic is
needed and in what communities

3. When Should You Do a Needs
Assessment?
Needs/ Business
Market
Demand Plan
Analysis
Analysis
A needs assessment should be done first. A market
analysis uses the information derived from a needs
assessment to assist in defining a program or service
Reference: http://www.telehealthresourcecenter.org/toolbox-module/introduction-marketing

4. What Does a Needs Assessment for
Telemedicine Include?
• What kind of access does the area have to specialists?
• What kinds of referrals are frequently given but also may
cause the patient hardship (due to travel
time, expense, etc)?
• Need for service and demand for service – there is a
difference
• Do not assume that since there is a need for the
service, there is automatically a demand for the service
• Does a community organization possess an expensive
piece of technology (like a CT scanner) that is
underutilized?

5. Cost/Benefit Analysis
• Know the cost and expense of the clinic (how
will this be paid for?)
• Know the potential revenue to be generated
(will you have enough business to cover
expenses?)
• Compare the cost and potential revenue
• Evaluate the feasibility and possibility of
investing new televideo equipment

6. Market Analysis
• Determine the number or the percentage of potential
patients—Look at the incidence in the general population or
plot out where the referrals come from
• Determine if there are service gaps in a community—How
far away is the nearest specialist?
• Identify key customers—Will they be willing to pay for the
telemedicine service?
• Identify competitors—What other similar services are being
provided?
• Identify potential partners—Will they be willing to join the
development?

7. Field Study
• Visit local healthcare
professionals/organizations to determine
their perception of the need and what their
current referral patterns are
• Visit the community to survey the local
patients and analyze their willingness of
accepting telemedicine service

8. Organizational Readiness
• Are potential partners (hospitals/clinics/schools)
ready for telemedicine?
• Do they have buy in from administration to make the
clinic successful?
• Do they have staff that can support the clinic on
their end?
• Do they have the equipment/technology to support
telemedicine?
• Is credentialing required at each site?

9. Additional Resources
http://www.heartlandtrc.org/resources.html
http://www.gptrac.org/resource-center/proven-practices-and-models/