Health informatics in telehealth services

Health informatics in telehealth services

ISO 13131:2021 certification

ISO 13131:2021 certification
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Informatics in telehealth
Informatics in telehealth
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Healthcare technology is fundamental to delivering equitable healthcare across communities to ensure routine and/or elective care can continue in the face of pandemics and/or simply high-risk or complicated situations. Telehealth provides virtual care, from clinics needing remote interactions with doctors and specialists to hospitals, physicians, payers, and employer groups to be more cost-efficient. Overall, providing more timely and better care for patients.

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What is ISO 13131:2021?

ISO 13131:2021 is an international standard that deals with the guidelines for health informatics. Telehealth is defined as the delivery of healthcare services at a distance using technology. It can include everything from conducting medical visits over the computer to monitoring patients’ vital signs remotely. Telehealth can be delivered in several mediums:

  • Synchronous – when the doctor communicates with the patient in real time via computer
  • Asynchronous – when data, images, or messages are recorded to share with the provider team
  • Remote patient monitoring – patient diagnostics are sent to the healthcare team
  • Virtual and home care - healthcare providers providing care to patients whilst they’re in a home setting
  • Virtual hospital wards - providing support to patients through technology without them needing to stay in hospital

How does ISO 13131 deal with guidelines for health informatics?

ISO 13131 provides guidelines for the operations of telehealth services, using risk management processes, quality objectives, and procedures that are derived. These include:

  • Management of telehealth quality processes by the healthcare organization
  • Strategic and operational process management relating to regulations, knowledge management (best practice), and guidelines
  • Healthcare processes relating to people such as healthcare activities, planning, and responsibilities
  • Management of financial resources to support telehealth services
  • Management of information management and security used in telehealth services
  • Processes related to the planning and provision of human resources, infrastructure, facilities, and technology resources for use by telehealth services.
Note: ISO 13131 does not provide guidance for the manufacture, assembly, configuration, interoperability, or management of devices, products, or technical systems.

Who needs ISO 13131?

ISO 13131 on telehealth services in health informatics is useful for:

  • Healthcare provider organizations including hospitals/clinics
  • Telehealth platform providers
  • Healthcare insurers/ funders
  • Telehealth and digital health technology companies

You should use ISO 13131 to help your organization apply and develop quality objectives and procedures, that are appropriate to the telehealth services they provide. This standard provides procedures for the implementation of telehealth services by a large organization. It also gives use cases for the application of quality planning guidelines that can be used in different types of real-world telehealth services.

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What’s changed since the last update?

BS ISO 13131:2021 cancels and replaces ISO/TS 13131:2014, which has been technically revised. The main changes compared to the previous edition are as follows:


• Alignment with ISO 9000:2015, ISO 9001:2015, ISO 31000:2018, and ISO 13940:2015.
• Addition of informative annexes providing use cases illustrating applications of this document.
• Improvement in the clarity of the clauses on quality management and risk management.