Telemedicine journal and e-health : the official journal of the American Telemedicine Association
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Telemedicine has been utilized in various healthcare areas to achieve better patient outcomes, lower costs of providing services, and increase patient access to care. Tele-intensive care unit (ICU) technology has been introduced as a way to provide effective ICU services to patients with reduced access, as well as to decrease costs and improve patient care. ⋯ The findings of this study have suggested that the implementation of tele-ICU may have been more beneficial than costly, and it may have provided healthcare organizations the opportunity to increase quality of care and decrease mortality, while it might have decreased costs of delivering ICU services in both rural and urban areas.