Table 4. Summary of the level and features of telemedicine uptake in the various continents and countries worldwide during COVID-19 pandemic.

Continent/Country	Implementation level	Main barriers to implementation	Main services (in order of importance)	Insurance reimbursement	Specific telehealth policies at a national level
Africa	Low	Cost Infrastructure Connectivity Interoperability General and digital illiteracy	Telephone Social (chat) E-mail	No	No
Canada	Medium	Infrastructure Connectivity Interoperability Reimbursement Regulatory restrictions	Video Telephone RPM	Yes (partial)	No
United States of America	Medium/High	Cost Infrastructure Digital illiteracy	Video E-mail RPM	Yes (partial)	Yes (partial)
Latina America	Low	Infrastructure Privacy Regulations	Video Telephone	No	Yes (partial)
Western Asia	Low/Medium	Cost Infrastructure General and digital illiteracy	Telephone Video	No	No
China	High	• General and digital illiteracy	Telephone Video	No	No
Japan	Medium	Cost Interoperability	Telephone Video RPM	No	Yes (partial)
Australia	Medium	Infrastructure Digital illiteracy	Telephone Video	Yes (partial)	Yes (partial)
Germany	Medium/High	Infrastructure Education	Telephone Video	Yes (partial)	Yes
Hungary	Low	Infrastructure Digital illiteracy	Telephone E-mail	Yes (partial)	No
Italy	Low/Medium	Infrastructure Interconnectivity Reimbursement	Telephone Video RPM	No	Yes (partial)
Russia	Low	Infrastructure	Video RPM	No	No
Switzerland	Medium/High	Interoperability Security	Video RPM	Yes (partial)	No
United Kingdom	Medium	Infrastructure Digital illiteracy	Telephone Video	No	No