The concept of telemedicine was introduced in the 70s by Thomas Bird. It literally means ‘provision of healthcare services from a distance’. This concept includes arriving at a diagnosis, conducting medical examinations or medical treatments without needing to be in actual physical contact with a patient. Telemedicine is the result of a natural process of using information and communication technologies in medical diagnosis and patient care. The emergence of telemedicine should be further viewed as the result of computerization of diagnostic equipment as well as proliferation of information systems applied to the health sector in general. Results of examinations having a digital form can be transmitted using computer networks. Similarly, computer controlled medical devices can be connected to a computer network to be remotely operated. Nowadays, the scope of telemedicine is very broad and it includes, among others, the following remotely executed processes:

• Diagnosis
• Therapy and treatment
• Monitoring and rehabilitation of patients
• Prevention and education of patients, doctors and medical students

All the above mentioned processes are implemented at the interface between the various actors involved in the provision of medical services. Nowadays, telemedicine has become important in the delivery of healthcare services since it facilitates the flow of information between those involved in the process. Among the most important information flow types, one can distinguish those that occur in a relationship between the following actors:

• Patient ? physician/ a system which facilitates physicians work – in this relation, the flow of information is said to improve patients safety and quality of life; it allows patients to live a physically active life, facilitates treatment of chronic diseases, allows for effective monitoring of patients and proper drug-taking, facilitates setting up of medical consultation dates, accelerates access to primary medical care, etc.
• Physician ? physician – this information flow type results in a significant improvement of the quality of medical services; it speeds up the arrival at a diagnosis by means of remote access to medical data, facilitates practice of transmitting and handling medical experts knowledge via teleconsultation, or even allows one to conduct remote treatments in difficult cases or in absence of a specialist.
• Student/physician ? physician – this information flow type enables lifelong learning through access to the latest achievements in medicine, the advancement of knowledge through tele-trainings, remote participation in medical procedures, etc.
• Patient ? health care system – this information flow type is related to the access to information about prevention, patients discussion groups, promotion of a healthy lifestyle and improvement of patients awareness, advertisement of pharmaceutical and medical companies.

The diversity in types of information flow implies that modern tele-medical systems encompass a wide variety of issues. A different approach is required in each case which constitutes a significant challenge for the designers and creators of telemedical systems.

Issues directly related to information flow in relation between physicians (‘physician ? physician’ type of information flow) which occur in the process of arriving at a diagnosis during teleconference lie at the core of our interest. Therefore, discussion on telemedicine is narrowed down to issues of remote access to medical data, tele-diagnosis and teleconsultation.