Sharing economic value between the stakeholders of a telehealth project: methodological issues?[Le partage de la valeur économique entre les acteurs d’un projet de télémédecine : enjeux méthodologiques ?]

Introduction: The durability of telehealth projects is too often questioned by the lack of prior development of sustainable business models allowing the finding of the equilibrium of the funding for the deployment and for the operational phases. The existing medico-economic and multidisciplinary methods do not address this problem; hence a new one is needed. Materials and Methods: The complex system design tools used in the field of Industrial Engineering are used as a base for this new method. The holistic approach adopted represents an opportunity to develop sustainable business models taking into account needs and viewpoints of each stakeholder of a telehealth project. Results: The proposed method aims at creating various scenarios of business models and offering a clear vision on how the proposed changes will impact each of the stakeholders involved as well as the overall system. An example of how this can be applied is detailed. Discussion and Conclusions: The presented method allows the design of economic value sharing scenarios between all the stakeholders of a telehealth project. Its application to a particular one can act as a basis for discussions during negotiations between stakeholders. It can also support the assessment of the overall project's sustainability.