As noted in the section on the history of telehealth, telemedicine is now widely viewed as a subset of telehealth. Other aspects of telehealth, as seen below, include telehomecare, minimally intrusive telemonitoring, and the challenge of actually providing teletherapy. Also related, but typically considered seperately, is web-based e-health and electronic healthcare records (EHR's).

From an engineering perspective on the process of interaction, each of the above differ. Conventional telemedicine often uses hub-spoke networks with videoconferencing rooms, with clinicians at either side involved in, for instance, a teleconsultation. Telehomecare often involves a lower-bandwidth connection, often between a client in the home (and perhaps their caregiver) in contact with a telenurse (or some other clinician). Telemonitoring may be mostly unobtrusive within mimimal interaction (e.g., automated cardiac function, weighing, activity level) or involve planned televisits. Teletherapy involves direct therapeutic intervention across a distance.

Another term is health telematics: the study of intelligent, effective strategies for transporting and utilizing health-related information and/or healthcare services. It combines telehealth and medical informatics, and is especially commonly used in Europe.

Types of Telehealth Processes (Tele-encounters):

• Teleconsultation -- A nice medical/legal term that suggests communication across distance in which there is an expert consultant who provides some sort of service.
• Teleconferencing -- The process of 2 or more people interacting across a distance, supported via telecommunications.
• Tele-education -- The process of education/training at a distance (for example, education represents one of the key professional activities of a visiting home health nurse).
• Telemonitoring (interactive) -- The process of monitoring health status at a distance. Involves interactive conferencing, and perhaps the transmission of data (e.g., vital sign recordings).
• Telemonitoring (unobtrusive) -- The process of unobtrusive sensing of personal health status, or of the environment.
• Telesupport/Televisit -- Interactive support, e.g. via a tele-nurse. Depending on the protocol, the "patient" and/or the provider of support may initiate the call.
• Tele-evaluation -- Systematic professional evaluation at a distance, e.g. by a physician, therapist, nurse, rehabilitation engineer, or other health professional.
• Teleassessment -- Systematic assessment of health status by a healthcare professional, often more targeted that an evaluation. Normally would need to be interactive.
• Telediagnosis -- The process of performing diagnosis at a distance. This has legal implications, and thus for instance, the FDA might have concerns if there is a "lossy" nature to data transfer (e.g., via a data compression-then-decompression process).
• Telecompliance -- The process of providing support, encouragement and education at a distance (like a personal coach), so as to enhance compliance with health maintenance (e.g., taking medication) or home self-therapy (e.g., a prescribed exercise program); perhaps one of the best uses of telehealth infrastructure.
• Teletherapy -- The process of actual therapeutic intervention at a distance. For instance, physical/occupational or psychological/psychiatric therapy. Ideally, there would be built-in objective telemonitoring that related to performance and outcomes measures.
• Telecoaching -- The process of providing coaching at a distance, for instance through a combination of interactive sessions that report progress and provide instruction on technique or modify a training program.
• Telementoring -- The process providing mentorship across a distance, for instance interactively guiding another clinician through a procedure.
• Teleplay -- Interactive, exploratory "games" that can have built-in therapeutic and/or monitoring capabilities. Interface device parameters (e.g., for alternative mouse) could be adjusted (remotely) by therapist depending on the patient's progress.
• e-health -- Typically refers to use of the Internet as a resource for obtaining health information.

Example of telehomecare:

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