Telemedicine integration in multiple sclerosis care: a scoping review of benefits and challenges

MS is a chronic neurological disorder requiring continuous, multidisciplinary, and long-term management. Telehealth has emerged as a promising approach to improving healthcare accessibility, continuity of care, and patient-centered management. However, evidence on its integration into MS care remains fragmented across diverse study designs and outcomes. This scoping review aimed to map the existing evidence on the benefits, challenges, and implementation barriers associated with telemedicine, a subfield of telehealth, in MS care. This scoping review followed the Arksey and O’Malley framework and the JBI methodology and was reported in accordance with the PRISMA-ScR guidelines. A comprehensive search of Web of Science, PubMed, and Scopus was supplemented by Google Scholar and citation searching, covering the period from database inception to May 15, 2026. Studies investigating telemedicine-based interventions in MS care were eligible for inclusion. Data were extracted using a standardized form and synthesized through narrative synthesis and inductive qualitative content analysis. Fifteen studies met the inclusion criteria. Telemedicine interventions were primarily delivered through videoconferencing, telephone consultations, mobile health applications, and video-based exercise programs. Reported benefits were grouped into administrative and organizational, technological, clinical, and data management domains. Frequently reported advantages included ease of use, reduced travel burden, enhanced symptom monitoring, and cost savings from the patient perspective, although health system costs were not consistently reported. Key challenges included technological limitations, inadequate internet access, communication barriers, privacy and security concerns, limited digital literacy, organizational and reimbursement issues, and difficulties conducting comprehensive neurological examinations remotely. The available evidence suggests that telemedicine may support selected components of MS care, particularly follow-up, rehabilitation, symptom monitoring, and patient engagement. The findings also suggest that hybrid care models combining remote and in-person services may offer a practical approach to care delivery, although their comparative effectiveness requires further evaluation. Future research should address implementation barriers, strengthen digital infrastructure and interoperability, and evaluate long-term clinical outcomes to support the sustainable and equitable integration of telemedicine into MS care pathways. This review maps the current evidence on telemedicine integration in multiple sclerosis care. Ease of use, reduced travel burden, and reported patient-level cost savings are more frequent benefits. Technological limitations, inadequate internet access, and communication difficulties are frequently reported barriers. Videoconferencing, telephone consultations, video-based exercise programs, and mHealth applications are frequently used telemedicine modalities in MS care. Hybrid care models may support telemedicine integration while retaining access to comprehensive neurological assessment.