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Do you need telemedicine?  Can you prove it?  If you can, you’re halfway toward attaining telemedicine grants or contracts.  A compelling need explained to a sympathetic funder will go far in molding the landscape of your funding pursuit.

A few tips will help measure the need for telemedicine when penning proposals:

Information is GOLDEN

First, scour the Internet (Census.gov and HRSA.gov) for information about your targeted geographic region to uncover demographic themes that build evidence toward your need. Typical topics include:

  •       Population (age, race, gender, etc.)
  •       Rural / Urban status
  •       Poverty levels
  •       Medically underserved areas
  •       Health professional shortage areas (primary, mental, and dental)

Next, refine your search for health statistics relevant to the target population to establish why telemedicine is needed.  Typical topics include:

  •       Disease-specific prevalence
  •       Mortality rates (infant,  early, race- or gender-specific, disease-specific)
  •       Insured / uninsured rates
  •       Health disparities

Your state health department will have much of this data, but if not, a Google search will help identify other solid sources.

Collect Unique Information

For folks with lead time, an online or hand-administered survey can gather data not available elsewhere, yielding unique, personalized results amongst your target population, which can build a strong case for telemedicine funding.  Your prospective telemedicine sites can offer the perfect forum for distributing and administering the survey.

Above all, overwhelm your reviewer with well-conceived and connected facts. Present your data in visually pleasing charts, maps, graphs, or tables, which saves space in your proposal and allows the reviewer to quickly assess your situation.

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